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SEPTEMBER 1919 



Bulletin of the University of Georgia 



Volume XIX 



Number 8 



Phelps-Stokes Fellowship 
Studies, No. 5 




The Negroes of Clarke County, Georgia, 
During the Great War 



By 
FRANCIS TAYLOR LONG, A.B., 

Professor of English, Southern College, 
Sutherland, Florida 

Sometime Phelps-Stokes Fellow, 
University of Georgia 



Entered at the Post Office at Athens, da., as Second Class Matter, August 31, 1905. 
nder Act of Congress of July 16th. 1904. Issued Monthly by the University. 

Serial No. 302 



TABLE OP CONTENTS 



Chancellor's Foreword. 

Page 

Chapter I. — Operation of the Selective Service System 4 

Chapter II. — Records of Various War Activity Campaigns 8 

Chapter III. — War Activities in the Schools 21 

Chapter IV. — Civilian Relief Work of ithe Red Cross 27 

Chapter V. — Effects of the War Upon Skilled and Unskilled 

Labor 33 

Chapter VI. — What Became of the Negro's War Profits? 49 

Bibliography _ 56 



SEPTEMBER 1919 



Bulletin of the Univer sity of Georgia 

Volume XIX Number 8 



Phelps-Stokes Fellowship 
Studies, No. 5 







izs&S 



f 



The Negroes of Clarke County, Georgia, 
During the Great War 



By 
FRANCIS TAYLOR LONG, A.B., 

II 

Professor of English, Southern College, 
Sutherland, Florida 

Sometime Phelps-Stokes Fellow, 
University of Georgia 



Kntered at the Post Office at Athens, Ga.. as Second Class Matter, August 31. 1905. 
v.nder Act of Congress of July 16th. l'JOl. Issued Monthly by the University. 

Serial No. 302 



n ' 



CHANCELLOR'S FOREWORD 

During the academic year 1912-13 there was established in the 
University of Georgia a Fellowship for the study of Negro problems 
in the South. The resolution of the Trustees of the Phelps-Stokes 
Fund in creating the Fellowship reads as follows: 

"Whereas, Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes in establishing the Phelps- 
Stokes Fund was especially solicitous to assist in improving the 
condition of the negro, and 

"Whereas, It is the conviction of the Trustees that one of the best 
methods of forwarding this purpose is to provide means to enable 
southern youth of broad sympathies to make a scientific study of the 
negro and of his adjustment to American civilization, 

"Resolved, That twelve thousand five hundred dollars ($12,500) 
be given to the University of Georgia for the permanent endowment 
of a research fellowship, on the following conditions: 

"1. The University shall appoint annually a Fellow in Sociology, 
for the study of the Negro. He shall pursue advanced studies un-Jer 
the direction of the departments of Sociology, Economics, Education 
or History, as may be determined in each case by the Chancellor. 
The Fellowship shall yield $500, and shall, after four years, be 
restricted to graduate students. 

"2. Each Fellow shall prepare a paper or thesis embodying the 
result of his investigations which shall be published by the Univer- 
sity with assistance from the income of the fund, any surplus re- 
maining being applicable to other objects incident to the main pur- 
pose of the Fellowship. A copy of these resolutions shall be in- 
corporated in every publication issued under this foundation. 

"3. The right to make all necessary regulations, not inconsistent 
with the spirit and letter of these resolutions, is given to the Chan- 
cellor and Faculty, but no changes in the conditions of the founda- 
tion can be made without the mutual consent both of the Trustees 
of the University and of the Phelps^Stokes Fund." 

I appointed as Fellow under this foundation for the year 1918-19 
Mr. Frank T. Long, A.B., a graduate of Mercer University in the 
Class of 1904, and placed the work under the direction of Professor 
R. P. Brooks, of the department of History. The present study is 
published in pursuance of the requirement in the second condition 
attached to the Fellowship. 

DAVID C. BARROW, 
Chancellor, University of Georgia. 



h 




PREEFACE 

In this study I have attempted to follow up the previous investi- 
gations of the negro problem conducted under the auspices of the 
Phelps-Stokes Fellowship at the University of Georgia by inquiring 
into the spirit and attitude of the negroes of Clarke County during 
the Great War. If the study lacks depth and breadth of basic ma- 
terial, I hope its timeliness will in some degree atone for any 
deficiency of this kind. The greater part of the time from Novem- 
ber 15, 1918 to June 4, 1919, was used in the direct and careful 
investigation of all sources of information available. Despite the 
difficulties that confront everyone who gathers data from sources 
where the records of whites and blacks are not kept separate, I have 
endeavored to learn in each case the definite facts and to confine 
myself strictly and impartially to them. In the case of interviews 
I invariably visited a sufficient^ number of persons in each instance 
to be sure that the opinions as finally recorded were vitally repre- 
sentative, many interviews similar to those included in the study 
being omitted. 

It is with many thanks that I acknowledge the aid of numerous 
helpers, both members of the faculty of the University of Georgia 
and others, in the compilation of this thesis. I wish in this way 
to express my gratitude to Chancellor David C. Barrow, through 
whose suggestion the subject was chosen and by whom a lively in- 
terest has been manifested throughout the investigation; to Pro- 
fessor R. P. Brooks, whose wise and skilled guidance directed the 
research practically from its inception; to Professor H. D. Dozier 
for early encouragement and suggestions; to Professor H. A. 
Inghram for invaluable aid in the compilation of statistics; to 
Professor and Mrs. C. J. Heatwole for much inspiration and general 
aid; to Mr. W. T. Forbes, secretary of the Athens Y. M. C. A., and 
his assistant, Miss Annie Foster, for patient and most helpful in- 
formation concerning war activity campaigns; to Miss Corinne 
Gerdine for unfailing assistance with reference to Red Cross statis- 
tics; to Mr. W. Woods White, of Atlanta, for much helpful statis- 
tical material, and to many others who have encouraged me and 
have given me practical aid. FRANCIS TAYL0 R LONG. 

Athens, Ga., June 4, 1919. 



CLARKE COUNTY XEOROES DURING GKREAT WAR 



CHAPTER I. 

OPERATION OF THE SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM 

By general consent man-power is regarded as the first requisite 
in time of war, for without recruits from whom to select and train 
both the officers and the men of an army, other resources, no matter 
how varied or how inexhaustible, amount to little. It is, therefore, 
proper to begin this study of war conditions in Clarke County with 
a consideration of the response made by the negroes of the county 
under the requirements of the selective service system. In the 
consideration of this, as is true in the examination of practically 
every other phase of the study, the parallel contribution of the 
whites is always in the background and insistently presents itself 
for comparison. The comparative basis of study will, consequently, 
be employed freely, because there is no better way in which to show 
clearly the sharp contrasts which are so often discovered in the 
analysis of this question. The registration statistics, the only relia- 
ble basis for a contrast between the man-power contributions of the 
two races to the direct military activity of the nation, are presented, 
first, in detailed form for information* second, in consolidated form 
for comparison. 

TABLE I. 

Registration of June, 1917 1 

Number Registered Inductions Delinquents 
White 1,028 187 

Black 992 



10 
64 



Deserters 
1 

8 



1 




■ 331 

TABLE II. 

Registration of June and August, 1918 

Number Registered Inductions Delinquents 
White 68 17 

Black 60 23 

TABLE III. 

Registration of September, 1918 

Number Registered Inductions Delinquents 
White 1,369 58 13 

Black 960 6 49 

TABLE IV. 
Showing a Consolidation of the Registration 
Number Registered Inductions Delinquents 
White 2,4(;r, 262 24 

Black 2,012 360 113 

For a full and clear understanding of the significance of these 
tables certain explanations are necessary. The excess of black in- 
ductions over white is due to (1) the considerable number of whites 



Deserters 






Deserters 







Deserters 

1 
8 



i These statistics were secured from the Clnrke County Local Board. 



OLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 

who volunteered and are not included in these figures; and (2) 
the fact that the negroes are not evenly distributed over the country 
but are concentrated in the South. In order, therefore, that the 
negroes might be made to bear their proportionate part of the 
burden, it was necessary to call a larger number from the South 
than would on the surface seem just. The Local Board in calling 
up whites and blacks acted on orders from the Provost Marshal 
General at Washington, who designated in his orders the number 
of each race he desired. 

Delinquents are those who failed to make out questionnaires or 
to appear for physical examination. Such cases are reported to 
the Adjutant General of the State. The Adjutant General then 
mails a notice to the delinquent, requiring him to show cause why 
he should not be inducted. If he does not report within a certain 
number of days, he is then automatically inducted and his name is 
sent to the Adjutant General of the United States. He is then 
classed as a deserter. This is the only class of deserters handled 
by the local boards. The local boards have nothing to do with the 
men who desert after induction. 

In the registration for September, 1918, the large number of 
delinquents is due to the fact that in sending out questionnaires, 
the young men eighteen years of age were included with those who 
were thirty-seven years old and with all the men who came within 
the age limit of the registration. Subsequently the men who were 
thirty-seven years old, as well as those who were older, were relieved 
from making out questionnaires, that is to say, the questionnaires 
were recalled after the signing of the armistice. This brought 
about confusion, because the young men who were eighteen years 
of age, in a number of cases, interpreted the recall as applying to 
themselves also. If the registration had been completed (the 
armistice stopped it), there would probably have been only five 
delinquents, of whom four would have been negroes. The relatively 
large number of white inductions in the September. 1918, registra- 
tion, is accounted for by the fact that most of these were members 
of the Student Army Training Corps at the University of Georgia. 

It is necessary, in order to see more clearly the relationship 
between the number of white and the negro registrants, that the 
population of the two races be compared. 

TABLE V 1 . 
Showing Population of the County by Races 

Population Percentage 

White 11.502 49.3 

Black 11,767 50.7 

On the basis of population it is evident from this table that the 
negroes should have furnished somewhat more men for the army 



i Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, p. 608. 



6 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

than the whites, because the negro population of the county is a 
little more than fifty per cent of the total population. But there is 
a notably larger number of white registrants than black. From 
this it would appear that there is a larger number of white people 
in Clarke County now than black. This is doubtless true and will 
account in some degree but not altogether for the great difference. 
The other probable causes of this difference will be considered in the 
analysis of the table which gives a comparison between the popula- 
tion and the registration of the two races. 

TABLE VI. 
Showing a Comparison of Population and Registration 



S -~ -£ _ o-g . o-C 

5 I £2 ull _sfl £§_ 



St CS . • f J? _ Si * _ . SO ™ « 



2 si :r s- _ .5 £ "-« qj "O _ c'-'C 

„ _ £ _ S „ £ a 1 S ■" 

3 8 3 2 ?o* if- S'gfli S~_ 
ftp S* „£_ £„.2 £_.2£, __.2 

fc K ft - ft ft 



White ______ 11,502 2,465 21.51 2.27 0.21 .009 

Black 11,767 2,012 17.09 3.07 0.96 .07 

An examination of this table shows that the negroes, though 
slightly more numerous, failed considerably in even equaling the 
number of registrants furnished by the whites, the registration of 
blacks having fallen 453 short of whites. At first thought it would 
seem that this surplus of white registrants is due to the student 
population in the Student Army Training Corps of the University 
of Georgia, but a more thorough examination of the matter fails to 
justify this opinion. In the first place, two of the registrations, the 
ones for August and September, 1918, took place when the Uni- 
versity was not in session. Consequently there was no non-resident 
student population in the city. In the second place, the non-resi- 
dent students who registered at the University during the other two 
registration periods, according to the registrar of the University, 
who was officially appointed by the Local Board to register these 
students, invariably registered with their home boards by having 
the registrar send their cards to the local boards of the towns and 
cities in which they lived. In the opinion of the registrar there was 
not one exception in the approximately 125 students whom he reg- 
istered. Even if all of this number were subtracted from the 453 
surplus white registrants there would still be a surplus of 328, 
which is out of all proportion to the percentage of population. 

There are three probable explanations of this unusual majority of 
white registrants. In the first place, as has already been indicated, 
it is doubtless caused in part by the more rapid increase of white 
than black population in the present decade. According to the 
census of 1910, there were a few more blacks than whites in Clarke 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 7 

County, thereby causing it to remain by a slight majority in the 
Black Belt. It is very likely true now that there is a majority of 
whites. In the second place, this increase of white population 
seems to have been accentuated by negro migration, which has 
been marked since the outbreak of the Great War. While the 
migration of negroes to munitions and other plants of a similar 
nature has not affected all of the county, it seems to have affected 
the city of Athens to a marked degree. Practically all of the mer. 
who migrated were of such ages as would come within the limits 
specified in the selective service laws. In the third place, it seems 
that the broadening educational advantages offered by the Uni- 
versity of Georgia are increasing not only the non-resident but the 
permanent white population of the city. Parents who are in a 
position to do so are more and more coming to Athens to reside 
permanently in order that their sons and daughters may enjoy the 
educational advantages thus afforded. There is no corresponding 
school here for the negroes. The negro schools in Athens are of 
a kind to attract students who are too young to come within the 
age of registration. Doubtless each of these causes has aided in 
bringing about the difference noted in the white and the black 
registration. 

Other phases of the comparison are likewise invariably in favor 
of the whites. The number of the white registrants exceeds that 
of the black by 4.42 per cent. The number of registrants inducted 
is greater by .8 of one per cent for the blacks than for the whites. 
The delinquency of black registrants is greater by .75 of one per 
cent than that of the white, and the number of deserters, though 
remarkably small for each race, is greater by .06 of one per cent 
for the blacks than for the whites. 

If a further analysis of the service rendered by these recruits 
were made, it would doubtless be discovered that many of the 
negroes were employed in the less responsible work of the army, 
such as that of labor battalions and kindred service, work, how- 
ever, which is just as essential to the army as that of the infantry- 
men. There were, of course, far more officers commissioned from 
among the white recruits than from the black. All of the negro 
recruits received several months of training in the various army 
camps, and some of them went to France and saw active service at 
the front. Judging from the general character of the negroes of 
Clarke County, the negroes who entered the army from Athens 
measured up well with the average of the soldiers of their race. 
As soldiers they doubtless rendered as good service as the average 
negro soldiers did in the army. 



S UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

CHAPTER II. 
RECORDS OP VARIOUS WAR ACTIVITY CAMPAIGNS 

After an examination of the man-power contribution made by the 
negroes of Clarke County during the Great War it is well to turn 
next to the contribution of funds for the training and support of 
these men in the field. These two things, the army and the material 
support of the army, are invariably thought of together. There is a 
tertium quid, the very essence of patriotism, the spirit without which 
neither an army nor the resources for the support of the army are 
possible; but for the purposes of this paper the presence of this 
spirit will be gauged in a practical way by the presence or absence 
of a concrete manifestation of it in one or both of the two first 
named elements. As the army and the resources of the army are 
so necessarily linked together, the consideration of the second of 
these two component parts will form the basis of this chapter. The 
contrast between the respective contributions of the two races in 
this phase of war work, as will be shown more in detail later in the 
chapter, is indeed sharp and well defined. Probably few other 
comparisons in this study, if any at all, will show greater divergence 
than this. Though at best little could be expected of the negroes 
in this particular, even that little has not been realized. 

Before consideration is given to the contributions of war funds by 
the whites and blacks, the relationship between the amount of prop- 
erty owned by the members of the two races, which is the economic 
basis and source of these funds, will first be shown. In order to 
present these differences as fully and as clearly as possible, recourse 
has been had to the Tax Digest of Clarke County, which offers the 
most dependable statistics available. Only a few of the items listed 
in the consolidation found in the Tax Digest have been omitted, 
these items being the ones in which no comparison can be made 
because there are no figures given for the negroes. No important 
item, however, has been left out. This rather complete survey of 
items is given so that all the important forms of property may be 
compared at a glance, but careful comparisons will be made only 
with reference to the most important items. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 



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10 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

In this decided preponderance in the value of the property of the 
whites, which is shown in figures in each phase of the itemized 
statement of tax valuations in the foregoing table, is to be found an 
indication of the degree to which the contributions of the whites 
surpass those of the negroes. Several items are entirely omitted 
from the tabulation, because in these items no basis of comparison 
is given. That is, no figures at all are given for the negroes. 
Among these items are "the market value of shares in any state or 
national bank of this state, etc.," and "the market value of cotton, 
corn, annual crops, provisions, etc." Relative to the first of these 
items, market value of shares in any state or national bank of this 
state, the whites of the county are credited with the return of shares 
to the amount of $834,000. The property of the whites noted in the 
second of these items is returned at $35,405. These statistics are 
offered without further comment. 

Selecting from this detailed array of statistics four items that are 
probably the most representative, a comparison will be made within 
this more restricted and more vital range of the relative ownership 
of property by the two races. In the matter of land, for instance, 
it will be observed that the whites own 87.14 per cent, while the 
blacks own 12.86 per cent of the total. This means that the whites 
own about six and three-quarters acres of land to every acre owned 
by the negroes. In the value of this land the whites have additional 
advantage, for the total valuation of the land of the whites is a 
little more than eight times that of the blacks. If one were, there- 
fore, to compare the war contribution of the whites with that of the 
blacks on the sole basis of the valuation of land owned in the county, 
the ratio would be established. 

If the aggregate value of the total property of the whites is con- 
sidered with that of the blacks, the contrast is even more unfavor- 
able to the negro; for the value of the total property of the whites 
is somewhat more than seventeen times as much as that of the 
negroes. This epitome of the most prominent points shown in the 
preceding tables prepares the way for the consideration of the part 
the negroes of the county played in the support of the war activity 
campaigns. 

Complete responsibility for the raising of all the popular funds 
connected with war activities — Liberty Loan, Red Cross, War Sav- 
ings Stamps, United War Work, and all the other related efforts — 
■was assumed by the whites. All the organizations for this work 
were originated by the whites and were placed in operation by them. 
It was understood that the whites would raise the quota asked for 
in each instance. If the aid of the negroes could be secured, it was 
well. If the negroes gave no aid in any particular campaign, the 
whites thought nothing of it but went ahead and subscribed the 
entire fund. If any of the white subscribers failed to pay, other 
white subscribers took up these pledges and paid them. If any 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 11 

negro subscribers failed to pay — and they did fail in nearly every 
instance to pay all they pledged even in the few campaigns in which 
they took part — the whites also made good these pledges. It was 
the white man's burden, and the white man bore it in Clarke County 
cheerfully and most successfully. 

At the outset one is confronted by the fact that the negroes con- 
tributed nothing to some of these campaigns. An examination of 
the list of the fourteen campaigns which will be made the basis of 
this chapter discloses the fact that there were as many as seven of 
these, fifty per cent of the total, in which the negroes took no part. 
In some cases there are extenuating circumstances for this remiss- 
ness of the blacks; in others there are none. It is true, for instance, 
that in some of these phases of war activity the negroes were not 
asked to take part, because some of the campaigns were conducted 
so rapidly and so successfully that the results aimed at were ob- 
tained even before more than a very few of the whites had been 
canvassed, or because a rapid and enthusiastic canvass of the 
whites insured the success of the given campaign without an appeal 
being made directly to the negro population. The prosecution of 
the First Liberty Loan is an example of the former of these two 
conditions; the Food Conservation Campaign is an example of the 
latter 1 . But the fact cannot be well escaped that even when vigor- 
ous canvasses were made of the negroes in the more important cam- 
paigns that the response received from them was not enthusiastic. 
No demands were made upon the negroes in some of the later cam- 
paigns, not because the whites were not anxious for the cooperation 
and help of the negroes; but because the organizers of these cam- 
paigns had already learned that much energy was wasted to secure 
a few pledges among the negroes and that in every campaign the 
greater part of the pledges made remained unpaid. The response 
of the negroes as a whole to these concrete demands of patriotism 
may be characterized as disappointing, not only with reference to 
the negro subscriptions themselves but also as regards the compre- 
hension by the negroes of the increased moral and spiritual respon- 
sibility placed upon them by the war. 

It has been observed oftener than once by leaders, both white 
and colored, in the war activity campaign work among the negroes 
in Clarke County that the zeal and enthusiasm with which the 
negroes began the consideration of a subscription varied much 
from the final results that were obtained. The amount of their 
pledges did not equal the fervor of their emotional enthusiasm. 
Their interest was apparently easily aroused, but it manifested a 
tendency to subside just as quickly. This serves to explain in part 
why even when they finally enlisted in these campaigns their con- 
tributions were so pathetically insignificant. It doubtless serves 
also as a partial explanation of why there were so many war activity 
campaigns in which the negroes did not participate at all. 



i see Table IX and the explanation following it. 



12 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

TABLE IX. 
Showing Summary of War Activity Campaigns in Which Negroes 

Did Not Participate 

Campaign Amt. Subscribed No. Subs. Ave. Sub. 

First Liberty Loan _ _$357,200.00 (Not available) 
Second Liberty Loan _ 266,000.00 759 $350.45 

First Y. M. C. A. 

War Work _ _ _ _ 11,860.00 638 18.59 

Second Y. M. C. A. 

War Work _ _ _ _ 32,452.61 (See explanation below) 
Second Red Cross- _ 33,000.00 2,200 15.00 

Armenian and Syrian 

War Relief _ _ _ _ 6,282.81 862 7.29 

Food Conservation — 97 per cent of white people of Athens pledged 
in one day. Negroes were not solicited. 

In securing accurate and complete statistics for Tables IX and 
X much difficulty was experienced. This was due to several causes, 
two of which should be mentioned. In the first place, it was 
found that in nearly every instance white and black subscriptions, 
if kept separate at all, .were often confused in final tabulations made 
by the leaders of these campaigns. It may, therefore, be that some 
small subscriptions made by negroes to some one or more of the 
foregoing campaigns have been overlooked. In the second place, on 
account of the fact that many of these pledges are paid in instal- 
ments extending over rather long periods, some of the subscribers 
fail to complete the payment of their pledges even after having made 
some of the payments. Consequently the totals are being constantly 
revised and corrected. In either instance, however, any inaccur- 
acies that may have occurred would not appreciably change the ulti- 
mate results. 

In further explanation of the fact that the negroes did not con- 
tribute to any of these campaigns it may be said with reference to 
the First Liberty Loan that this campaign for funds was not only 
about the first one instituted but also that it was restricted almost 
entirely to the banks and various corporations of the city of Athens. 
Most of the subscriptions to each of the Liberty Loans were made 
in Athens, but the four succeeding loans were better distributed 
throughout the county than the First. The fact that the bulk of 
the subscriptions in each of the loans came from the city is natural, 
because Athens is not only the one city in Clarke County but also 
represents a great amount of the county's population and wealth. 
It may be readily seen that in the First Liberty Loan the number 
of subscribers was small in comparison, for instance, with the Sec- 
ond Liberty Loan, or with any other loan of the series. 

It will be observed, however, that the Second Liberty Loan was a 
more general loan than the First. It came considerably later in 
point of time, and much greater enthusiasm in the prosecution of 
the war had been aroused than had characterized the first loan of 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 1 :'. 

the series. More publicity was given to it, as will be manifest from 
a glance at that part of the foregoing table which shows the num- 
ber of subscribers, 759. Yet there is no record of a single negro 
subscription to this loan. 

Two of the three large Y. M. C. A. campaigns for funds had been 
completed before the negroes made any subscription to this worthy 
cause. The fact that almost as many subscribers participated in 
the First Y. M. C. A. campaign as in the Second Liberty Loan will 
serve to show how general was the solicitation made for funds in 
that campaign. The large number of subscribers who contributed 
to the Second Y. M. C. A. campaign gives adequate indication of the 
widespread nature of the appeal in that campaign in Clarke County; 
for, excluding the War Savings Stamps and the United War Work 
campaigns, no other organized effort of this nature secured such an 
individual response. 

In Table IX the figures given for the amount subscribed for the 
Second Y. M. C. A. War Work Campaign represent the total for 
the Athens District, composed of several counties, and not of Clarke 
County. On account of the fact that Athens oversubscribed so 
heavily its quota in the First Y. M. C. A. War Work Campaign, no 
canvass for funds was made in Clarke County at all but the remain- 
ing counties of the district were left to make up their just subscrip- 
tions to this fund. The only part of this amount that should be 
credited to Clarke County is $250 voluntarily sent in to the fund t 
a large public service corporation of Athens. Consequently no num- 
ber of subscribers is given with the amount subscribed as listed in 
the table. 

In the foregoing table is given a resume of what may be termed 
the negative phase of the activity of the negroes in Clarke County in 
the war work campaigns. This is a negative consideration of the 
matter, because the number of campaigns in which the negroes did 
not take part made it seem necessary to present this phase of the 
matter before taking up the positive achievement. Without dwell- 
ing too much on these negative statistics, a more complete exami- 
nation will now be made of the positive side. 



14 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

TABLE X. 

Showing Summary of War Activity Campaigns in Which Negroes 

Participated 

Campaign Amt. Subscribed No. Subs. Ave. Sub. 
First Red Cross — 

White $ 30,117 1,262 $ 23.87 

Black _ _ _ _ 1,201. 1,684 .72 

Third Liberty Loan — 

White _ _ _ _ 805,000 1,800 447.22 

Black _ _ _ _ 600 12 50.00 

Fourth Liberty Loan — 

White _ _ _ _ 1,151,350 1,782 646.10 

Black _ _ _ _ 4,150 34 122.06 

F'fth Liberty Loan — ■ 

White _ _ _ _ 779,100 673 1157.65 

Black _ _ _ _ 750 2 325.00 

War Savings Stamps — 

White _ _ - - 274,000 3,700 74.06 

Black _ _ _ _ 9,995 379 26.36 

United War Work — 

White 67,175.15 5,077 13.23 

Black 1,268.85 '739 1.72 

Jewish War Relief — 

White 14,925 3>50 42.64 

Black _ _ _ _ 75 (Not available) 

There are some interesting conditions presented in this table. 
With reference to the data for the two Red Cross Campaigns, it will 
be observed that only one of the two is presented in this tabulation. 
The statistics for the other one are to be found in the preceding 
table. The figures for the First Red Cross Campaign show that the 
whites subscribed twenty-five times as much as the negroes. The 
comparison of the value of the total property of the two races, it will 
be recalled, showed that the whites owned seventeen times as much 
property as the blacks. There were 422 more colored subscribers 
than white, and the average subscription for the blacks was only 
one thirty-third of that for the whites. 

With reference to the Third Liberty Loan, the first loan of the 
series in which the negroes of Clarke County participated, it will 
be seen that the whites subscribed 1,342 times as much as the 
blacks, and that this large white subscription was divided among 
1,788 more subscribers than for the negroes. It is only the fact 
that merely a dozen negroes subscribed to this loan that make the 
average subscription for the negroes compare with that of the 
whites as $50 to $447.22. The contrast here is indeed very un- 
favorable for the negroes, for it shows that only a few of the wealth- 
iest negroes took part in the campaign. Almost the entire negro 
population took no part whatever, while the white population as a 
whole was fairly well represented. 

In the Fourth Liberty Loan the negroes made the most creditable 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 1 •" 

showing in the entire series of loans. It appears that the several 
preceding campaigns were necessary in order to arouse the negroes 
to sufficient permanent enthusiasm for them to register their patriot- 
ism in a concrete way in the Liberty Loans. It is also true that, as 
the Liberty Loans called for sums of not less than fifty dollars t'r 
individuals, in case of individual subscriptions, they were not suited 
to the fnancial circumstances of the negroes; but as the loans pro- 
ceeded it was found that more subscriptions were secured from 
negro churches, schools and similar organizations. This, together 
with the fact that the negroes gradually gained more confidence and 
interest in the loans and were at the same time able to foresee the 
end of the war, doubtless helps to explain the gradual but percep- 
tible increase in negro subscriptions. Though the Fourth Liberty 
Loan called for an increase over the Third Loan of about only a 
third of the total amount of the latter loan, the negroes increased 
their share to where it was nearly seven times as large as their 
contribution to the Third Liberty Loan. There was a gratifying 
increase also in the number of negro subscribers to this loan, in 
which the total amount subscribed by the negroes was about one- 
two hundred and seventy-fifth part of the amount subscribed by 
the whites. The average negro subscription was about one-fifth 
that of the white. 

Without even more than a casual examination of the question at 
issue one would regard the War Savings Stamps Campaign as the 
opportunity in this kind of war activity that ought to have proved 
•by its very nature the most democratic and representative, espe- 
cially among the negroes. This may have been true, but the sta- 
tistics do not show it; for it is very likely true in many instances 
that the subscription, for instance, of a school with several hun- 
dred pupils was entered and counted as one subscription. Invest- 
ments in Thrift Stamps, as they were known, could be made in as 
small sums as twenty-five cents. This ought to have put them in 
the reach of a majority of people, even among the negroes. It is 
but natural to conclude, then, that this fund was of all war funds 
the one most widely distributed among individuals; but there is no 
way in which this may be definitely established by figures. 

A further examination of Table X is interesting in this connec- 
tion. The table shows that there were almost twice as many negro 
subscriptions to the United War Work Campaigns as to the War 
Savings Stamps fund, while more than twice as many subscriptions 
are credited to the First Red Cross Campaign as to the United War 
Work. In each of these three campaigns subscriptions were made 
by schools, churches, etc., so that it is very likely that some of these 
subscriptions that embraced many subscribers were entered as single 
subscriptions. The fact that the complete amount secured from 
negro subscriptions in the War Savings Stamps Campaign is about 
eight times as large as that of the total subscriptions by the negroes 



16 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

to either the United War Work or the First Red Cross fund may- 
he an indication that there were more actual, individual subscribers 
to this fund than to either of the other two, but this would not 
necessarily result. The War Savings Stamps Campaign was largely 
a business matter; but the contributions to the Red Cross and Unit- 
ed War Work funds were charitable, as no direct returns were ex- 
pected from these latter contributions. It may have been necessary 
to secure the total negro subscription to the First Red Cross Cam- 
paign in very small amounts from the large number of subscribers, 
1,684, while, on account of the investment feature, the much larger 
total negro subscription to the War iSavings Stamps Campaign could 
have been more easily secured from the 379 subscribers. It seems 
very likely that this latter condition prevailed and that the War 
Savings Stamps fund was not the most widely distributed war fund 
among the blacks, among whom it appears from the property com- 
parison it should have been far more generally distributed than 
among the whites, especially since such comparatively small 
amounts were subscribed by the negroes to the various Liberty 
Loans. Evidence to some degree corroborative of this may be 
found in the following table: 

TABLE XI 1 . 

Showing Percentage of Negro Population Taking Part in War Sav- 
ings Stamps Campaign 



County 



p u a, 

O CJ 

k3 



- o 



9 a 


« a 


O-l 


-<o 


ito. 


O 


ej-S 


-— to 




■3-t-a 


■£ "*— — 


7* & 




M d .— 


- i 


O 1Z i£ 


£~ ':(. 


-5 to 


~ % CJ 


:, "Z — 


— ~ 


Z ~ ~ 


5So* 


= :. 


^£^ 


P4&P4 


y.u 


50.6 


5 


379 


49.8 


1 


28 


68.0 


98 


3,353 



Clarke _ _ _ 11,767 50.6 5 379 $9,995 

Bryan_ _ _ _ 3,337 49.8 1 28 225 

Morgan _ _ _ 13,414 68.0 98 3,353 147,058 

It will be seen from this table that Clarke County is included 
with the two other counties of the state which represent, respec- 
tively, the lowest and the highest percentage of negro population 
contributing to the War Savings Stamps Campaign. In connection 
with the foregoing statistics it should be remembered that the esti- 
mated average for the state of the percentage of negroes contrib- 
uting to the fund is 20 per cent. It may be seen from this that 
Clarke County falls very much below the average, as only five per 
cent of the negro population of this county contributed to the fund. 
With reference to the number of negroes in these counties under 
consideration, it may be seen that Morgan, with its black popula- 



' Figures used in tins table were obtained fr the state Director, War 

Savings Stamps Campaign, Atlanta, and from Abstract of the Thirteenth 
Census. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DIKIXC CUKAT WAR 17 

tion of 13,414, has only 1,647 more negroes than Clarke Count; hut 
that in both the number of blacks pledging and In the amounl of 
these subscriptions in dollars the former county has far surpassed 
the latter. There were nearly nine times as many subscribers in 
Morgan County as in Clarke, and these subscribers pledgiil nearly 
fifteen times as much as the Clarke County negroes. This is out of 
all proportion also to the property owned and shows that the Clarke 
County negroes, despite their excellent advantages as regards schools 
and churches, failed to come up to the standard of a county which 
they themselves would consider inferior to their own county in 
point of general rank. 

In the complete report of the War Savings Stamps Campaign for 
the negroes of Georgia 1 it is found that the percentage of negroes 
pledging money to this fund varied in the different counties of the 
state from 1 per cent to 9 8 per cent, with the average about 20 per 
cent. From this it is manifest that the Clarke County negroes have 
fallen below the average in the percentage of the race subscribing 
to the fund. Here is found also rather conclusive evidence that the 
pledges to this fund were not the most widely distributed of the 
war activity campaigns. Further evidence is also discovered in the 
circumstances which governed the organization of this campaign in 
Clarke County. From an authoritative opinion expressed relative 
to this it is very probable that the failure of this campaign with 
reference to the distribution of the pledges and the total amount 
subscribed was caused by a lack of the most aggressive organization, 
due in part, at least, to local opposition to the separate organiza- 
tion of the campaign for the negroes in Clarke County. 

It is interesting to observe that, of the entire fourteen war ac- 
tivity campaigns considered in this study, those listed in Table X 
were the ones that were better organized than the others. It is in- 
teresting, furthermore, to note that of these seven campaigns some 
were better organized than others, as was indicated at the con- 
clusion of the foregoing paragraph. The First Red Cross Campaign 
was thoroughly organized, and an active canvass of the negroes was 
made, the results of which have already been analyzed. It was 
frankly admitted, however, by the man who was practically the 
director of the campaign in Clarke County that the results obtained 
from so much hard work were so disappointing that no effort at all 
was made to solicit subscriptions from the negroes during the Sec- 
ond Red Cross Campaign. 

Committees from among the whites canvassed the negroes in 
the Third, Fourth and Fifth Liberty Loans, though there was little 
need of it in the Fifth Liberty Loan on account of the unusual ease 
and rapidity with which that campaign, as was also true in the First 
Liberty Loan, was conducted. As has already been suggested, the 



i This report was consolidated Id the headquarters of the campaign in 
Atlanta by Mr. W. Woods White, the director. 



18 UNIVERSITY 0^ GEORGIA 

War Savings Stamps and the United War Work Campaigns were 
organized centrally for the entire state from Atlanta, both of these 
campaigns having been under the supervision of Mr. W. Woods 
White, of that city, who made use of the most compact and care- 
fully planned system that was employed in any of the war activity 
campaigns among the negroes in this state. 

It was the purpose of Mr. White in organizing these campaigns 
to make use of the most important institutions among the negroes 
and to organize about them machinery for the solicitation of 
pledges. Taking the church as the leading one of these institutions, 
he linked with it the school and the lodge. These three organiza- 
tions summarize the religious, educational and fraternal elements 
in the life of the negro. Mr. White, therefore, in naming his com- 
mittees for the various counties in the state, placed upon the com- 
mittee for each county the leaders in the religious, educational and 
fraternal life of that county. In this way he believes that he made 
the organizations for the War Savings Stamps and the United War 
Work Campaigns among the negroes as thorough and as effective 
as possible. Under this arrangement all the workers employed in 
the conduct of the campaign in each county were negroes. They 
were given constant supervision and advice by their white friends 
in the headquarters for Georgia in Atlanta, but the work was essen- 
tially the work of the negroes themselves. This was a notable ex- 
ample of the stimulation of racial pride and unity by helping the 
negroes to help themselves, a principle in which Mr. White firmly 
believes. 

It should be remembered that even in the excellent organization 
of these two campaigns, the War Savings Stamps and the United 
War Work, that they were organized among the negroes several 
months after similar organizations had been perfected among the 
whites. It is but natural to suppose that this was a disadvantage 
to the negro, but it is well to consider two racial tendencies among 
negroes that might .form a basis for a different conclusion. The first 
of these two traits is that the negro is by nature an imitator, the 
second is that the negro's enthusiasm is easily aroused but just as 
easily disappears. In considering the first of these traits it is pos- 
sible for one to perceive that the whites in their leadership in both 
the organization of the campaigns and in their subscription to these 
funds might stimulate and helpfully influence the negroes. In the 
consideration of the principle upon which the second trait is based, 
it may be seen that, as there was less time intervening between the 
period of the making of the pledges and the time of payment of 
them, the zeal and enthusiasm of the negroes would have less time 
to become cold and inactive. This comment is offered for what it 
may be worth. It seems more natural and probable, however, to 
think that with earlier organizations perfected among the negroes 
and with more thorough and more general solicitation, which even 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR L9 

in this case would have been stimulated and aided by the example 
of the whites, there would have been more favorable results from 
the campaigns. 

There is little doubt, however, that the negro has failed to realize 
other than to a slight degree the larger responsibilities of citizen- 
ship and patriotism. This is illustrated, for instance, by the fact 
that only a part of the fund subscribed by the negroes in the United 
War Work Campaign has been paid. Diligent efforts have been 
made both by the chairman of the negro committee in charge of 
the work in Clarke County and by the negro secretary of the United 
War Work Campaign in Atlanta to collect this money. These 
negro leaders seem to realize fully the responsibility incurred by 
themselves and by the members of their race in pledging this money, 
but even from the beginning of the campaign many of the negro 
subscribers have not so regarded their pledges and they have less 
regard for their obligations than ever, now that the war has ended. 
A well known and reliable Athens negro, in speaking of the failure 
of the negroes to redeem their pledges, said: "It was hard work to 
get even as much of the money as we were able to collect before 
the war closed, but it is harder than ever to get it now. Very little 
has been gotten since last November. When I ask them why they 
don't pay what they promised, they always say that they don't see 
any need of paying it now that the war is over." The negro super- 
visor for the state of the same campaign, whose headquarters are 
in Atlanta and who has been intimately acquainted with the condi- 
tions in the Clarke County work in this campaign, spoke in similar 
manner of the situation in Clarke County; but he also declared that 
he was determined to collect the Clarke County pledges if it were 
possible to do so. "I consider it little short of a calamity for the 
members of my race to make pledges of this kind in the time of 
the great need of this money in war work and then not to keep 
their pledges. We intend to collect the pledges if we can and to 
impress upon the negroes the importance of such obligations." 
Finally the white director of practically all the war activity cam- 
paigns in Clarke County corroborates the facts brought out by the 
negro leaders in the following words: "We have practically dis- 
carded consideration of the negro as a factor in these campaigns 
since our earlier experience with them in this work. It takes much 
work to get them to pledge even a little, and the work isn't worth 
the trouble; for it leaves apparently no permanently good effect 
upon them. In all the campaigns in the county in which the negroes 
have taken part, I estimate that they will pay about one-fourth of 
what they pledged. That is about what they have already paid, 
and they are not going to pay any more. What little they did pay 
amounts almost to nothing." 

No more valuable comments upon the negro's part in the war 
activity campaigns in Clarke County have been made than these 



20 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

three that have just been quoted. The two from the negro leaders 
are indications from the members of their own race of the lack of 
genuine depth in the patriotic emotions of the negroes of the county 
during the Great War. They, as did their white brothers, wished 
to aid by contribution of funds in the prosecution of the war, but 
they were too weak racially to live up to their obligations. The 
defect in the negro's character which is the cause of this failure is 
well expressed by a keen and sympathetic interpreter of the negro 
in the following words: "Another element of contradiction in the 
character of the negro is an alert imitativeness associated with the 
most wonderful persistency in conforming to the real bent of his 
nature. He is eager to ape the habits and customs of the whites, 
and yet reveals in his own infirmities that he is incapable of adopt- 
ing anything but the form." 1 



3ruce, Pblllp A. The Plantation Negro as a Freeman, p. 134. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 21 

CHAPTER III. 
WAR ACTIVITIES IN THE SCHOOLS 

It will be recalled that in Chapter II of this study reference was 
made to the organization of the War Savings Stamps and the 
United War Work Campaigns among the negroes of the state, these 
campaigns having been organized in such a way as to make a three- 
fold appeal to the negroes through prominent and influential repre- 
sentatives of three of their most vital institutions, the church, the 
lodge, the school. In this manner these campaigns in their religious, 
fraternal and educational associations came to have definite appeals 
for the negroes. An interesting three-fold comparison could be 
made in this connection between the war activity work of these 
three institutions among the negroes as compared with the same 
organizations among the whites. Space will be used, however, for 
only one of these comparisons, that of the negro and the white 
schools. The reason is that two of these institutions among the 
negroes occupy more prominent places in their general appeal than 
they do among the whites. The church and the lodge supply a 
much greater social field for the blacks than they do for the whites, 
and both the church and the lodge organizations are made use of 
for different purposes in the lives of the negroes from what they 
are among the whites. 

Though both white churches and fraternal organizations invested 
in Liberty Bonds, yet it was not as characteristic and as representa- 
tive a matter with them as with the corresponding negro organiza- 
tions. One white church alone in Athens invested $5,000 in Lib- 
erty Bonds, a sum which in itself was more than all the negroes of 
the county invested in the Fourth Liberty Loan — the loan of all 
the entire series of five to which the negroes subscribed most lib- 
erally, — and equal to the total investment of all the negroes of 
Clarke County in all of the Liberty Loans. Consequently it is 
evident from this brief consideration of the white churches that they 
invested in these loans more liberally than did the negro organiza- 
tions. The same thing is true of the white fraternal organizations 
as compared with the black. As the functions of these two organ- 
izations vary so much among whites and black, it seems best that 
the comparison be restricted to the other institution mentioned, the 
school. It is fortunately true that a more definite comparison of 
results can be obtained in the war activities of the schools of the 
two races. 

This chapter will, consequently, be employed as a medium for the 
presentation of as complete a comparison as possible of war activi- 
ties as they were carried out in the white and the black schools of 
the county. It may be seen at a glance that all of the war activity 
campaigns would not have an equal appeal for the pupils in the 
schools. The Liberty Loan bonds, for instance, were in such large 



22 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

denominations as to make the purchase of them by the children, 
except in rare cases, practically impossible. These exceptions are 
invariably where pupils of schools as organizations and not as in- 
dividual pupils combined their contributions to buy a bond for 
some definite purpose. 

In the case of the War Savings Stamps Campaign the appeal was 
practically universal. There were two good reasons for this. On 
tho one hand, Thrift Stamps, as they were called, could be bought 
in such small denominations as to make them accessible virtually 
to every pupil: on the other hand, the buying of these stamps was 
not a charity but an investment. The pupils were easily led to buy 
Thrift Stamps, in the majority of cases, it appears, with money they 
obtained from their own work. On account of the fact that the sale 
of these stamps was, among the schools, the most representative of 
the war activities which had in view the raising of funds to be used 
directly in the prosecution of the war, this work will receive fore- 
most emphasis. Much emphasis will also be placed upon Red Cross 
work, which, in its own field of endeavor, likewise ranks first. For 
the purpose of convenience in the matter of analysis, the work of 
the city schools will be considered first apart from that in the rural 
schools, then in comparison with it. On account of the fact that 
there was in the school activities, as was also true in the general 
conduct of the war activity campaigns, much more interest mani- 
fested in the city than in the rural schools, the former will be given 
first place in the following analysis. 

TABLE XII. i 
Showing Sale of Thrift Stamps in the Public Schools of Athens 

White 

Attendance Amt. (Subscribed Av. Subscription 

$1,183.91 $3.92 

2,675.77 8.86 

340.29 2.12 

127.00 .93 

1,914.16 8.36 

1,492.41 5.59 

$7,242.18 $5.18 

Black 

150.00 .56 

18.00 .09 

3.00 .02 

$ 171.00 $0.24 

After having considered the record of the negroes of Clarke 

County in the various war activity campaigns, we are prepared for 

the showing that is made in the foregoing table by the pupils of the 

po schools in Athens. With nearly twice the average attendance 

of the negro schools, the white schools of the city have bought more 

' Report of the Minns < it.v Schools, 1917-18. 



School Av. 


Atten 


College Ave. _ _ 


302 


Childs St. _ _ _ 


302 


Oconee St. _ _ _ 


161 


Nantahala Ave._ 


138 


Baxter St. _ _ _ 


229 


Athens High _ _ 


267 


Totals _ _ _ 


1,399 


Athens High 




& Industrial _ 


268 


East Athens _ _ 


194 


West Athens _ _ 


153 


Newton _ _ _ _ 


87 


Totals _ _ _ 


702 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 23 

than forty-two times as many Thrift Stamps, and the average sub- 
scription of the white schools is more than twenty-one times as 
much as that of the black. If one compares again the total prop- 
erty of the whites with that of the blacks — the ratio, it will be re- 
called, is seventeen to one — it is evident that the negroes have not 
responded as they ought to have done. In the schools, where, if 
anywhere, it might be expected that the negro race through its 
children would have shown its greatest sensitiveness to patriotic 
impulse, the response has also been disappointing. 

These results are recorded, too, after an appeal had been made to 
the pupils of the public schools to give as much as possible. The 
superintendent of the public schools made a plea to each teacher, 
and in many cases directly to the pupils. This campaign in the 
schools may be said, therefore, to be the registration of the senti- 
ment produced by organized effort, typical and representative of the 
patriotic sentiment in the schools. As such, the results are, in the 
main, good, especially in the case of the white public schools. 

In Red Cross work and in general war activities, as well as in the 
sale of Thrift Stamps, there is also a good basis for comparisons. 
Red Cross work was accomplished in some degree in practically 
every school of the system, both white and black. There was, of 
course, much more work done in the white schools than in the 
black. This is true even in the case of the grammar schools, and 
it is particularly true of the high schools. 

Taking up the consideration of the high school for whites in Ath- 
ens, we find that its Red Cross and other war activities are so numer- 
ous and varied that it is not practicable to try to reduce them to a 
tabular basis for comparison. The report of the principal of the 
Athens High School will, therefore, be given verbatim. 

War Activities, Athens High School, 1917-18 

Red Cross — The school organized the first Red Cross School Aux- 
iliary in the Southern States. During the school term the school 
contributed a one-hundred dollar Liberty Bond and $126.25 in cash 
to the local Red Cross chapter. The following articles were turned 
in by students. These articles were made in the regular classes or 
at regular periods in the afternoon: 

3,410 compresses, 1,044 2x84 bandages, 371 front line bags, 286 
scultetus bandages, 130 triangular bandages, 54 hot water bags. 
72 baby shirts (Belgian relief), 30 baby dresses (Belgian relief), 
14 baby sacques (Belgian relief), 36 pinafores, 36 bed shirts, 18 
bath robes, 45 dish towels, 10 Christmas kits, 42 packing cases, 50 
signal flags for local army detachment, 7,020 applicator sticks; 
total number of articles, 12,668. 

The girls of the school worked every Saturday morning during 
the summer vacation at the Red Cross rooms. The packing cases 
for the local chapter are being made in the school during the sum- 
mer, as they were during the school term. 

Liberty Bonds; War Savings Stamps — The school bought Liberty 
Bonds and Savings Stamps as follows: Bonds bought, $9,450; per 
capita. $33.16; Stamps bought, $1,492.41; per capita, $52.02. 

Soldiers; Sailors — One hundred eighty teachers and students of 
the school have entered the Army and Navy. In this number there 



2 \ I XIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

3 majors, 9 captains, 25 first lieutenants, 31 second lieuten- 
ants. 22 sergeants, 5 corporals, and 7 men in officers' training camps. 
Below is given the record of the graduates of classes of 1910-14: 

1910, 16 graduates: 12 in army, 75 per cent; 1911, 12 grad- 
uates: 12 in army, 100 per cent; 1912, 8 graduates: 6 in army, 75 
per cent; 1913, 8 graduates: 8 in army, 100 per cent; 1914, 15 
graduates: 12 in army, 80 per cent. All of these men volunteered. 

War Gardens — Forty-six of the boys have planted individual gar- 
dens. Others worked in their home gardens. 

Summer Work — Twenty-two of the boys have enrolled for work 
on farms, especially wheat fields and peach orchards. Practically 
every boy in the school has a "job" of some sort for the summer. 
Numbers of the girls are also employed. 

In comparison with the foregoing summary is given that of the 
negro high school, which is known as the Athens High and Indus- 
trial School. This summary was obtained from the principal of the 
school: 

War Activities, Athens High and Industrial School, 1917-18 

Red Cross — 100 per cent strong. $60 was given to the Junior 
Red Cross fund in 1918, and $50 in 1919. $254.50 was raised by 
Victory Boys and Girls. 

Thrift Stamps — Thrift Stamps sold, $150. 

Graduates in Army — Out of 150 graduates to date 50 have joined 
the army. 

War Gardening — 15,000 plants, tomatoes, cabbage, egg plant, 
celery, peppers, etc., distributed to pupils to be used by them in 
their gardens at home. 

Center for AVar Work — The schools have served as a center for 
war work of all kinds among the negroes. 

War Relief — Contributed $10 to Jewish War Relief Fund. 

After the extended consideration already given the relative records 
in war activities made by the white and colored schools of the city 
it is unnecessary to analyze these two reports very much. A mere 
glance at them will serve to show that the white high school has a 
very much wider, more varied and more successful record than the 
black, a record possibly better than that of any similar high school 
in the state and doubtless unsurpassed by any in the South; but it 
is grateful to observe that the negro school has not only attempted 
but has actually achieved rather varied war activities. The notable 
difference between the two is brought out in more prominent con- 
trast when it is recalled that, according to figures given in Table 
XII, the average attendance at the white school was 267 and at 
ih'- black school 268. 

A striking contrast is presented by the war activity work in the 
rural BChools, for it is found that the rural schools as a whole have 
made a very poor showing in comparison with those of the city.. 
As was true in the case of the city schools, efforts were made by the 
lerintendent of the county schools to secure generous contribu- 
tions of money and of work to the various war activities. The 
chers were notified of the united effort to be made, and through 
the teachers notice was given to the pupils. The results are indi- 
cative of the lethargy of the average country school in comparison 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 25 

with the average city school. It was difficult to secure even partial 
information from the rural schools, but every one was given an 
opportunity to record its war work. The questionnaire, which, in 
order to secure its return, was sent out with a self-addressed, 
stamped envelope to the various white and colored schools, request- 
ed any information available concerning any phase of war activity 
accomplished. Though the response to the questionnaire was not 
general, there were some schools which reported creditable work. 
From the replies sent in answer to the inquiries one may judge 
very well of the nature and the amount of the work accomplished: 

White Schools 

A. I am very sorry to state that I am not able to make a good 
report in regard to war activities. We did not have a Red Cross 
club. Though my school contributed as a whole during the last 
drive, I don't remember how much. Four of my pupils bought 
Thrift Stamps, $5 each. 

B. In regard to war activities my school and community re- 
sponded to every demand of the Government. At the beginning my 
pupils and I aided in distributing literature and getting pledge cards 
during the Food Conservation Campaign. We planted a school 
garden which netted us about $15. We also planted a plot of corn 
on the campus, from which we realized $23. After this had been 
harvested we planted the plot in wheat. Ten of my forty pupils 
were enrolled in different agricultural clubs, thereby assisting in 
the production of food. 

Every family in this militia district purchased War Savings 
Stamps, and a number of them had the cards filled out in their 
children's names, but 12 of my pupils purchased Thrift Stamps with 
money earned by themselves in small quantities. 

They also contributed $7.50 to the Red Cross fund and $3 for 
Y. M. C. A. work, but the only actual Red Cross service rendered 
was individual, such as brushing their teeth and caring for their 
own bodies. 

We have collected tin foil, nut shells, fruit stones, papers, scrap 
.iron, fertilizer bags and other junk, which was sold by the individ- 
uals and by the school. We are preparing another school garden 
now (April 30, 1919). 

C. Fifteen pupils in our school purchased Thrift Stamps; every 
family represented conserved food; nine of our girls have done 
sewing and knitting for Belgian relief; two of our boys raised addi- 
tional potatoes. 

Black Schools 

D. I am only able to send you the names of a few persons who 
did active work in buying Thrift Stamps, but the few persons who 
worked in the Red Cross work they were so near the city of Athens 
until they joined the Red Cross there. (Then follow the names of 
seventeen persons, who, the writer says, bought Thrift Stamps. 
These are names of resident in the neighborhood and not of pupils). 

/:. I wish to inform you that the pupils did not secure any Thrift 
Stamps but the majority of the patrons took an active part in pur- 
chasing War Savings Stamps, Liberty Loan and Red Cross. (Then 
follows a list of names of patrons). 

F. I write to inform you that the Brooklyn School has not ac- 
complished much towards buying Thrift Stamps or doing Red Cross 
work. 

In such manner it is that the teachers of the rural schools report 



26 IMIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

concerning the work that has been done in their schools in these 
phases of war activity, where any work at all has been done. In 
comparison with the city schools the rural schools have accom- 
plished almost nothing in Thrift Stamp and Red Cross work. If it 
were not for the reports retured by the Hinton-^Brown and the Nor- 
mal Rural white schools, which are given in the foregoing sum- 
maries as B and C. the work of the rural schools in this particular, 
as outlined here, would be almost negligible. As it is, the work 
done at these two schools, especially at the Hinton-Brown school, 
shows what could have been accomplished at almost any one of the 
rural schools. Some of the rural schools with the largest number 
of pupils and with the best industrial development as basis for sup- 
port, have done practically nothing, which shows that this matter is 
one of sensitiveness to patriotic stimuli rather than one of financial 
ability to help. 

One other form of war activity should be mentioned in connection 
with the two phases already discussed. It is the work of organiza- 
tions peculiarly adapted to rural schools, such as pig and corn clubs 
and canning clubs. This work has merely been hinted at in the few 
school reports that have been given. It was well organized in 
Clarke County, especially among the white schools, through the 
supervision of the State College of Agriculture. Miss Eldona 
Oliver, the home demonstration agent for Clarke County, has effi- 
ciently conducted this work and has compiled a record of the varied 
and excellent activities of these clubs in the canning, preserving 
and conservation of food, as well as in other related endeavors. 
Though Miss Oliver has given lectures and demonstrations in this 
work to the negro teachers of the county, no negro home demon- 
stration agent has been appointed for the negro schools. There is 
consequently no record available of the work of this kind that has 
been done in these schools, but it has manifestly been very little. 
If there had been a home demonstration agent in charge of the 
negro schools, as in the case of the white, the negro schools would 
doubtless have made a better record in this important phase of war 
work. 

It appears from the facts presented in this chapter that even the 
Clarke County negro schools, both the teachers and the pupils, are 
greatly lacking in patriotic spirit and achievement. 

Negro children of school age should be especially susceptible to 
patriotic impulses. Not even the great impressionability of the 
negro child, however, is of much aid here; for, "back of the child, 
and affecting him both directly and indirectly, are the character- 
istics of the race. He has little conception of the meaning of virtue, 
truth, honor, manhood, integrity." 1 He has, consequently, but little 
of the spirit of genuine patriotism, which is the companion of these 
other virtues. 



i Odum, II. W. Social and Mentral Traits oi the Negro, p. 39. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 27 

CHAPTER IV. 
CIVILIAN RELIEF WORK OF THE RED CROSS 

From the soldier at the front to the humblest civilian at home 
extends the line of defence of a nation at war. In no great war has 
the truth of this statement been more thoroughly emphasized than 
in the one that has just closed. This relationship of the civilian 
to the soldier has many phases. It is the purpose of this chapter 
to consider only one of them. In Chapters II and III, a discussion 
was had of the relationship of the civilian population at large and 
the school population in particular with reference to the various 
war activities. In this chapter consideration will be given to 
another phase of civilian relationship, that of the family or rela- 
tives of the soldier to the government and to the man in camp or at 
the front, and the relationship in turn of the soldier to his relatives 
at home and to the government. 

In the supreme crisis of war when there was urgent need of the 
most complete and most sympathetic cooperation of the civilian pop- 
ulation with the forces of the government in aiding in every way 
the successful prosecution of the war, it is a matter of importance 
to observe what was the attitude of negro civilians and in this way 
to understand their relations with negroes who were in the army. 
The most complete and illuminating data of this kind, as well as 
the most dependable, is to be found in the records of the American 
Red Cross, to which organization the government intrusted this 
kind of army work for both whites and blacks. As a writer in a 
recent number of The Southern Workman expresses it, "The American 
Red Cross knows no creed or color. It extends military and civilian 
relief to the colored people both at home and abroad in the same 
spirit of service as it is offered to the whites." 1 Both the complete- 
ness and the impartiality of the civilian relief work done by the 
Red Cross will be amply shown in this chapter. 

An examination of the complete records of the Athens Chapter of 
the American Red Cross for the entire period of the war and for the 
post-war period up to April 1, 1919, discloses the fact that a very 
large majority of the cases managed by the local chapter during 
that time has been negroes. The first consideration then will be 
given to numerical proportion of white and black beneficiaries of 
the civilian relief work. 



1 The Southern Workman, December. 1918. 



28 I'XIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

TABLE XIII.i 

Showing the Xumber of Civilian Relief Cases Managed by the Red 

Cross 

No. of Cases Percentage Percentage 

of Population 
White _____ 129 34.4 49.3 

Black _____ 245 65.6 50.7 



Total 375 

Cases of negro civilian relief far exceed those of the whites, as 
this table shows. The number of negro cases is almost twice as 
large as that of the whites. Stated in terms of percentage, the 129 
cases of the whites are about thirty-four and a half per cent of the 
total, while the cases credited to the blacks form a little more than 
sixty-five and a half per cent. Considered merely on the basis of 
number, the blacks show a decidedly more marked trend toward 
dependency than do the whites. 

Dependency on the part of the negro is shown clearly not only 
in the number but also in the character of the cases. The matters 
brought before the Red Cross representatives show in an interesting 
way the childlike dependency of the negro applicants. It is in this 
particular that one discovers the basic difference between the aid 
sought by the whites and that desired by the negroes. The white 
applicant invariably asks for information not commonly known, but 
the negro applicant requests all kinds of information from the 
simplest to the most complex. The white applicant secures his in- 
formation and then makes use of it himself, giving no further 
trouble to the Red Cross agent. The negro applicant asks for a 
letter to be written, oftener than otherwise for a series of letters, 
and the entire case, sometimes involving months of correspondence 
and often personal investigation, must be managed in its every 
detail by the Red Cross. It may be seen readily from this general 
consideration of the matter how deep and fundamental is the differ- 
ence. The white applicant shows self-reliance, the negro manifests 
too often the childlike dependence upon the whites that has always 
characterized him. 

Practically all the white cases come under one head, while the 
negro applicants may be classified under several. Invariably the 
whites asked for information. The negroes, too, asked for informa- 
tion, but of a much more general kind than did the whites. A 
large number of negro applicants inquired about allotments, some 
about insurance policies, and others sought to know the where- 
abouts and other information concerning relatives in the army. In 
this large number of inquiries not only was the dependency and 
helplessness of the blacks shown, but also their ignorance, super- 
stition and fear. 



a for this table were secured through the active assist- 
ance and -• Miss Ci Secretarv, H^nio Division 
Alliens Chapter, American Red C 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 29 

It should be remembered, however, that the contrast just out- 
lined is not complete, or absolute, but relative. In view of the 
varying conditions that are presented by the applicants for civilian 
relief, it would be unfair and unwise to endeavor to make the com- 
parison more than a general estimate of the total conditions pre- 
sented. There are instances on record in the files of the Athens 
Chapter of the Red Cross which show utter dependency and illiter- 
acy on the part of both white civilians and soldiers. These cases 
are few, however, and this fact is to be remembered in the interpre- 
tation of these conditions. 

Though the records of both the Red Cross and the Local Board 
may furnish data concerning the matter of illiteracy among whites 
and blacks, yet the Red Cross records, from the nature of the work 
of this organization in aiding not only soldiers but also civilians, 
are likely to be more complete in the individual cases in their indi- 
cation not only of the soldier affected but also of his dependents 
and relatives. While definite statistics from neither of these sources 
are available, an examination of the Red Cross records shows that 
there are many more black than white illiterates. 

This condition of illiteracy should engage the most careful atten- 
tion of the people of Clarke County. The illiterate soldiers come 
from the remote parts of the county, to which the influences of edu- 
cation have not penetrated or in which these influences have for 
some reason not been utilized. Even though the percentage of illit- 
eracy is comparatively small, there is far too much among both white 
and black soldiers and civilians. It is the scarcity of white illiter- 
ates and dependents that so sharply differentiates the whites from 
the blacks. 

Other cases managed by the Red Cross illustrate not only ignor- 
ance but even dishonesty. It may be said very truthfully that in 
the majority of cases the negro soldiers and their civilian relatives 
regarded the Red Cross as an agency that was formed to aid them 
and to which respect was due. They respected not only the 
Red Cross but also any other agency that would help them, and 
they soon became as dependent as children upon such organizations 
for aid of the simplest kind. Though most of them respected the 
Red Cross and the government, there were some who regarded both 
of these agencies as legitimate prey. If they had an opportunity of 
obtaining money from either of these organizations fraudulently, 
they seized upon the chance and gave little thought to the right 
or wrong of the methods employed. They seemed to have little 
conception of their moral responsibility to either the Red Cross or 
to the government. A few typical cases sketched with sufficient 
fullness to show clearly the motives, both good and evil, back of 
them, will serve to illustrate this much better than generaliza- 
tions 

Case A. A negro soldier who at the time was confined in the hos- 
pital at Camp Grant, Illinois, made a request of the Red Cross agent 



30 IXIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

there to communicate with his mother in Athens. The Red Cross 
agent wrote to the agent of the organization in Athens in part as fol- 
lows: "Soldier asks that Red Cross render first assistance to his 
mother. Soldier's service record has been lost, he has received no 
pay since he has been in the service and would appreciate any assist- 
ance you may be able to give until such time as he is able to send 
funds* himself." The case was at once investigated. It was dis- 
covered that the mother was a cook receiving excellent pay in one 
of the most prominent homes in the city. The mother herself had 
been saving all she could out of her wages and had been sending it 
regularlv to the toldier at Camp Grant for spending money. There 
were two other sons at home. One of these was at the time ill, the 
othor was in good health and was well dressed. When asked if he 
secured all the work he wanted, he replied that he did. If he had 
worked regularlv, he could have easily supported the brother who 
was ill The mother, if she had taken the money she gave to the 
son at Camp Grant, could have readily supported the son who for 
the time was dependent on her on account of illness. The Red 
Cross agent arranged for the payment of the doctor's bill and for 
medicine.? needed. The mother was assured that if the boy was ill 
ver' long, the Red Cross would pay the drug bills. The Red Cross 
agent kept in close communication with the sick man until his re- 
covery several weeks later. 

Case /.'. In the form of a letter from the Red Cross agent at Camp 
Sevier, South Carolina, this case was first brought to the attention 
of the Athens Chapter. It was shown in this letter that several 
inquiries had been directed by the agent at Camp iSevier to the 
wife of a soldier in camp who wished to communicate with her. 
The wife lived with her mother in Athens. No reply had been re- 
ceived to any of these letters, so the Athens agent of the Red Cross 
was asked to investigate. An investigation was made, but the 
woman who was the wife of the man could not be found. Her 
mother, however, was found and explained the conditions. From 
what the mother said the daughter had received threatening letters 
regularly from her husband, who in this way had forced her reg- 
ularly to send back to him the allotment which the government com- 
pelled him to make to her. These threatening letters had been kept 
up so long that the wife finally ran away from her mother's home 
in order to escape receiving them. The mother said she had been 
unable to find her daughter and that she had no knowledge of 
where her daughter was. The wife had said repeatedly before she 
ran away that she did not want any of the money, that she was tired 
of receiving it and being worried with it. and that if any other al- 
lotments came she would send them back to her husband or to 
Washington,- — anything in order to get rid of them. 

Case C. Another negro soldier who was in the hospital at Fort 
MoPherson in July (1918) had not communicated for some time in 
any way with his wife in Athens. The wife, having received no 
news from her husband for a long time, requested the Athens Red 
doss to make inquiry concerning his condition. On August 12th 
the man was reported better. On September 4th the man notified 
the Red Cross agent at the hospital that his wife and two children 
were receiving no allotment from him, and he asked that the case be 
investigated. An investigation in Athens showed that the allot- 
ments had been delayed but that all of the past due allotments, to- 
gether with the current one, had just been sent to the wife, who 
bad received at one time $400. April 18, 1919, a letter was received 
from the Fori M.-Pherson Red Cross agent with the statement that 
the negro soldier in question had been reported a deserter from 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR. 31 

December 17, 1917, through December 31, 1918, and that on ac- 
count of the delay in reporting the desertion the allotment had 
been paid to his wife until she had received $44 0. This, she was 
told, she would have to repay the government. The negro woman 
promptly replied that she had no money but that she had spent all 
of it. This occurred within five months of the receipt of the large 
sum mentioned above. In the meantime the husband arrived in 
Athens and presented his discharge papers. It was soon discovered 
that the length of his period of desertion had been an error and 
that it had been determined by government officials that the correct 
period of desertion was about one month. When the negro woman 
was told that she must repay the allotment for this period, about 
$40, she again said she had no money. At the time of the investi- 
gation she had not returned the amount to the government and had 
apparently no idea of doing so except under compulsion. 

Case I). The mother of this negro soldier, who lived in Athens, 
asked the local Red Cross secretary to communicate with her son, 
who had been for some time in the Army hospital for tuberculosis 
patients at Denver, Colorado. It was the desire of the mother to 
secure a discharge for her son in order that she might nurse him 
at home. When the Red Cross secretary in Athens became aware 
of the mother's desire to have her son return home, the secretary at 
once suggested to the mother that Denver was the best place for one 
who was suffering from tuberculosis, better by far than Athens or 
any similar place. The letters the mother had been receiving from 
her son had always been cheerful, though the soldier was seriously 
ill. Finally a letter came, written in a shaky hand, the writing 
itself, despite the courage and optimism of the writer, revealing his 
serious condition. The Athens Red Cross secretary wrote imme- 
diately and inquired concerning his condition. In their reply the 
hospital authorities at Denver made clear the policy of the army 
with reference to such cases, assuring the mother that she would 
be notified at once in case of the development of critical conditions. 
Not very long afterwards a telegram came to the mother, informing 
her of the need of her presence in Denver. As the mother was 
unable to buy the ticket to Denver, the local Red Cross chapter 
bought it for her. The mother arrived in Denver in sufficient time 
to be with her son for twelve days before he died. As it is custom- 
ary in the army for some one to accompany the remains of a dead 
soldier to his home, the Denver authorities selected the mother for 
this office and gave her a voucher for the price of the return ticket. 
When she came back to Athens, she had this voucher cashed and 
brought the entire amount, about twenty-five dollars, to the Red 
Cross secretary to pay for the ticket given to her by the Red Cross 
when she had left. As she had spent all of her meager savings in 
paying her expenses while she was in Denver, she asked that she 
be allowed keep a part of the amount and return it to the Red Cross 
later. This was readily granted, and the loan was repaid. She was 
most grateful for the aid of the Red 'Cross, both in Athens and in 
Denver, and spoke of her undying appreciation. She was a notable 
example of honesty, integrity and gratitude, though she was utterly 
dependent upon the Red Cross and its agents. 

In summarizing the net results of this part of the investigation it 
may be seen that dependency with reference to both whites and 
blacks has been shown. A very few cases of complete white de- 
pendency were observed, but by far the greater number of these 
cases were negroes. As a whole the results obtained serve to show 



32 I'NIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

the wide breach between the morality and civilization of the whites 
and the blacks. As has been observed: "He (the negro) has no 
consciously acquired moral standards, for he is still a child race. 
The hackneyed expression applies: he is non-moral rather than im- 
moral, as a race and according to Anglo-Saxon standards We 

cannot, therefore, reasonably expect the American negro to respond 
to his environment just as the white man does.' " 



L McCord, Chas. II. The American tfegro as a Dependent, Defective and 
Delinquent, p. lis 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 33 

CHAPTER V. 

EFFECTS OF THE WAR UPON SKULLED AM) UNSKILLED 

LABOR 

1. Genera] Labor Conditions 

From the consideration of negro military man-power and the 
record of the blacks in contributing both money and energy to the 
specific war activity campaigns it is but one step further to the analy- 
sis of the various conditions pertaining to labor. It has been dem- 
onstrated in earlier chapters of this study that the negroes did not 
make a notable response to the demands of the war activity cam- 
paigns. In the analysis of these conditions it has been shown that 
the failure of the negro to measure up to the higher demands of 
citizenship has been caused in part by his economic inferiority. 
Though in point of economic rank the negro is inferior to the white, 
yet with respect to his availability and adaptability as a laborer, par- 
ticularly in certain fields of labor, he has had during the war an 
unusual opportunity to prove his worth as a citizen and patriot. It 
will, therefore, be the purpose of the present chapter to attempt to 
develop this phase of the question as it relates to both skilled and 
unskilled labor. 

In the case of the war activity campaigns the majority of the 
negroes of the county had comparatively little, if any money, to 
give; on the other hand, they had as their greatest asset the time 
and ability to work. With exceptionally high wages and a broader 
variety of work open to even the unskilled laborer, there was little 
reason why there should have been much idleness, and no reason at 
all for vagrancy. While vagrancy was comparatively slight, never- 
theless the negro's inherent tendency not to work regularly when 
wages were so high that the pay for a few days of work would sup- 
port him for a week was manifest. Especially was this true of those 
who received allotments from the government, some of whom dis- 
continued work as long as the allotments lasted. 

These general labor conditions were understood very well in the 
state even before the close of 1917, after the United States had 
been engaged in the war for only about six or eight months. The 
State Commissioner of Commerce and Labor referred to them in his 
report made at the close of the year 1917, and at that time he also 
pointed out the need of a compulsory work law. This law was 
passed at the next session of the General Assembly in the summer 
of 1918. The nature of its requirements and the results of its en- 
forcement will be taken up later in this chapter. The summary of 
labor conditions and the recommendation of the Commissioner are 
embraced in the following words: 

"After a very careful study of conditions, I am thoroughly of the 
opinion that we should have in Georgia a compulsory work law of 
not less than five days per week for all able-bodied males 



34 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

We have in Georgia very many work-slackers. Common labor is 
paid more now for three days than was formerly paid for a week's 
work, and many see no necessity for working longer each week 
than is necessary to provide food and sustenance for the remaining 
period. The law should be made to apply alike to all classes of our 
citizens. If all able-bodied males were required to work five full 
days in each week, the situation in Georgia would immediately im- 
prove. 1 earnestly recommend the passage of a compulsory work 
law in Georgia. In my judgment it is the most important measure 
that can engage the time and attention of the General Assembly at 
the coming session." 1 

According to an estimate made by the Commissioner of Commerce 
and Labor for Georgia, there was throughout the state during the 
war an average shortage in general labor of twenty per cent, or one- 
fifth. It is the opinion of the clerk in charge of this work in the 
office of the Commissioner in Atlanta that conditions in Clarke 
County, with its very nearly equal proportions of white and colored 
population, wore about on the average with the shortage for the 
entire state. There was a decided shortage in labor in Athens and 
in the factory districts immediately adjacent to the city. Partic- 
ularly was this true of the plants that employed unskilled labor. 
A very clear indication of this is to be observed in several interviews 
that have oeen incorporated into this chapter. The marked short- 
age in unskilled labor may be accounted for not only by the negro 
migration and the drafting of these men for army service, but also 
by thp fact that the great demand around the city for help a little 
above that of unskilled labor but still demanding very little of the 
element of skill, as well as the inducement of higher wages, caused 
many of the unskilled laborers to enter this class of work during 
the war. 

That negro migration from the city of Athens has taken place to 
a considerable extent since the beginning of the Great War is hardly 
to be doubted, though it is difficult to reduce the matter to a statis- 
tical basis. The migration began, as has been indicated, soon after 
the outbreak of the Great War and long before the United States 
entered the conflict. It appears that it had its beginning in the 
great demand for workers in the munition factories and in other 
plants that were manufacturing supplies for the countries that were 
then fighting Germany. 

It will hardly be questioned that the causes of the migration from 
Clarke County were essentially the same as for the average county 
in the Black Belt. These causes have been admirably summarized 
in a broad way in the introduction to a bulletin issued recently by 
the United States Department of Labor: "In considering the move- 

i Stanley, II M. Preface to the sivih Annual Reporf of the Commissioner 
of Commerce and Labor of the State ■>!' Georgia for the fiscal year ending 
December 31, 1917, p. I. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 35 

ment as a whole I think we should face two broad truths, which I 
hope I may be pardoned for mentioning, for they are of importance 

in studying the story of economic and social changes One 

of the truths to which I allude is that the desire of any people or 
class of people to improve their condition of living is a natural and 
healthy desire, and that their effort to gain such improvement is a 
commendable effort. The migration of negroes from one part of the 
country to another, Ike all racial and popular migrations in history, 
expresses such desire and effort. Whether the movement result in 

the desired advancement is another matter The second 

broad truth to which I beg to call attention is this: The genuine 
progress of a country depends upon the spread of good conditions of 
living and good chances of healthy improvement among all the peo- 
ple of the country, not only among those of any class, or race, or 
profession, or occupation, but among all, including especially those 
who have hitherto had the least chance through power, education, 
inheritance." 1 

Migration of negroes from Clarke County continued almost to 
the close of the war. This information is vouched for by some of 
the best informed men in Athens, men who are thoroughly familiar 
with the negro population here. The migration had very little 
effect upon the rural districts, but it seems to have been rather 
marked in Athens. One of the officials of the Local Board for Clarke 
County is authority for the statement that many negroes left the 
city after they had registered, their purpose being to go to places 
where they could enter essential industries. On account of the fact 
that there are no labor unions among the negroes of Athens, it is 
impossible to reduce the matter of the negro migration here to a 
statistical basis of comparison. 

There are comparatively few labor unions among the negroes. 
Where such unions are organized they invariably include skilled 
laborers only. Negro labor unions, therefore, are found only in the 
larger cities. A large majority of the negroes are unskilled laborers, 
mainly farmers and workers of similar type. They are consequently 
not organized into labor unions. There is an indication, however, 
in the interviews obtained in Clarke County that this class of negro 
labor is beginning to comprehend the meaning and the use of organ- 
ization among laborers. One of the employers interviewed seems 
to think that the negroes are already secretly organizing them- 
selves into labor unions. It appears that there is no proof or good 
reasons for believing this; but it is just as certainly apparent that 
there is coming to be a somewhat more definitely unified spirit 
among the negroes relative to the disposition of the most important 
commodity which they possess, labor. They are keeping better in- 
formed as to prices paid for labor, and are insisting on receiving the 
highest current wages. The war is probably responsible in the main 



iDillard. J. H. Introduction to Negro .Migration in 1916-17, bulletin l". s. 

Department of Labor, p. 9. 



36 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

for this in that it has raised wages in so many departments of negro 
labor to rates previously unheard of in the South and has in this 
way whetted the naturally keen desire of the negro of today to re- 
ceive the greatest possible pay for his toil. It is also doubtless true 
that many negroes in the army have had opportunities of observing 
the operations of organized labor and upon their return home have 
told their neighbors of these things and have caused them also to 
become more keenly interested in labor conditions. 

It is self-evident that the war caused a great increase in the 
wages paid for every kind of labor. It will, therefore, not be the 
purpose of this paper to enter into minute comparisons between pre- 
war and war-time conditions of labor. Only a few of the more typ- 
ical and more representative phases of negro labor will be consid- 
ered. Of these, as has already been indicated, farm labor forms an 
important part. Unskilled laborers in general form another large 
element. 

TABLE XIV. 

Showing Increase in AVages Paid Farm Laborers 

Wages per Day 

Before the War 

General Laborer _ _ $0.75 to $1.00 

Cotton Chopper _ _ 1.00 to 1.25 

Cotton Picker_ _ _ .50 to .75 

TABLE XV. 

Showing Increase in Wages Paid Other Unskilled Laborers 

Average 





Average 


Wages per Day 


Per cent 


During the War 


of Inc. 


$1.50 


71.60 


2.50 to 3.00 


145.54 


1.00 to 1.50 1 


100.00 





Wages per Day 


Wages per Day 


Per cent 




Before the War 


During the War 


of Inc. 


Fertilizer Laborers- 


$1.25 to $1.50 


$3.00 


118.11 


Ditchers and Other 








City Laborers- _ 


1.25 to 1.50 


2.50 


83.21 


Railroad Laborers- _ 


.75 to 1.10 


2.25 to 2.40 


152.17 



It may easily be seen from these tables that in general the price 
of labor has doubled under the influence of war conditions. In some 
cases it has even increased to three times as much as it was before 
the war. While the foregoing tables represent the type of laborers 
who are by far more numerous in Athens and in Clarke County, 
nevertheless it is true that in every form of unskilled labor in which 
negroes are employed wages have advanced in proportion. These 
figures then may be taken as characteristic of the advance in wages 
of unskilled negro labor. 

In the field of skilled labor the most numerous employees are the 
rvants engaged in domestic and hotel service, such as cooks, 
waiters, butlers, etc. The following table shows the advance in the 
cost of service of this kind: 

i These Bprnres apply to the price pnM per ion pounds. * 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 3 7 

TABLE XVI. i 
Showing Increase in Wages Paid Domestic and Hotel Servants 

Wages per Week Wages per Week Per cent 

Before the War During the War of Inc. 

Private Homes 

Cooks (Women) _ $1.50 to $2.00 $3.00 to $4.00 100 

Butlers (Men) _ _ 3.00 to 5.00 5.00 to 10.00 66.67 

to 100 
Hotels 

Cooks (Men) _ _ _ 4.00 to 5.00 8.00 to 10.00 100 

Waiters (Men) _ _ 8.00 to 10.00 15.00 to 19.00 87.50 

to 100 

Of this class of laborers even more than of the unskilled type it 
would be expected that the wages would advance. Even at the 
higher rates the supply of laborers has not equaled the demand. 
At the same time the class of service has been very low, character- 
ized very frequently as both expensive and unreliable. / 

Tendencies in labor as shown in the foregoing tables are even 
more vividly and graphically presented in personal interviews with 
employers. A number of these interviews have been obtained in 
order to give the individual point of view relative to present labor 
conditions in the county. From these interviews the scarcity, the 
high price and the shiftlessness of labor will be understood. 
Negroes were hard to manage, and they did just as little work as 
they could to draw their pay. There was a feeling among employers 
of negro labor that they must endure the unsatisfactory service of 
the negroes as a matter of necessity. They naturally expected to 
increase the wages of laborers in keeping with prices of other things, 
but they felt keenly, and still feel, the failure of labor to return 
good, steady work for these wages. In the following interviews the 
employers give directly their opinions concerning labor conditions: 

Unskilled Labor 

A. "Dealing with war labor on the farm was about the most un- 
satisfactory work I have ever done," said a typical farmer in de- 
scribing his own experiences. "Labor was scare and high. Very 
little work could be gotten out of negroes, because there were too 
many people who wanted your laborers. I believe that extra high 
wages such as we had during the war and still have create idleness. 
A farmer couldn't afford to get after a negro for loafing on the job. 
If he did, he might lose what labor he had. So we had to put up 
with it. Even after the ground was. broken up and ready for crops 
in the spring it was hard to tell how much to plant, because the 
supply of laborers was so uncertain. I have seen farmers give even 
little negro girls $1.50 to $2.00 a day to get cotton chopped out. 
They were glad to get grown negro men and women to chop cotton 
at $3.00 a day. When the cotton was made, you had to pay $1.50 
a hundred to get it picked, and often you couldn't get pickers at 
all. There were some farmers who didn't have so much trouble, 



i statistics in Tables XIV. XV and XVI were seeurefd from employers. 



38 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

but every one who depended on negro labor knows how hard it was 
to hire and work negroes during the war. It seemed that every- 
thing drew labor away from the farm. The fertilizer and other fac- 
tories needed help, and the sorriest and most worthless negro could 
go to the city and make a living. With the factories and the army 
draining out the labor, the farmers had to suffer." 

B. From the manager of a large fertilizer plant was secured this 
interview concerning negro labor in that industry. The manager is 
a man of mature years and has been in charge of the plant for a 
long time. Before assuming the management of this plant he had 
been for many years the supervisor of negro labor on the farm, so 
that altogether he spoke of the character of negro labor from the 
observation and experience of practically a life time. The plant 
itself has the best and most modern equipment, with ample capital 
back of it, thereby insuring the most desirable working conditions. 

A year of work in the plant is divided into two seasons. The 
busier season lasts but three months, February, March, and April. 
During these months the work consists not only in mixing and 
manufacturing fertilizers but also in shipping these manufactured 
products to the various consumers. The remaining nine months 
of the year constitute the season when the fertilizers are manufac- 
tured and stored away, except for light shipments made during a 
part of the autumn. It is during the first of these seasons, there- 
fore, that the larger number of laborers are required. The pay-roll 
of the plant includes as many as 155 names during this season, 
while during the remainder of the year the number of negroes em- 
ployed fluctuates from 75 to 100, with an average pay-roll of about 
90. While a few of these laborers who do the lighter work are not 
adults, nearly all of them are grown men and receive full pay. This 
is unskilled labor, most of these negroes being recruited from ad- 
jacent farms. They are what are termed "field hands," or field 
laborers, and most of them, when they have completed the work of 
the busy season at the fertilizer plant, go back to the farm. Before 
the war it was the custom of the negroes who worked during the 
busier season at the fertilizer plant to spend much of the remainder 
of the year in idleness. This they could afford to do, because of the 
fact that they received such high wages during the busier season at 
the plant. The manager of the plant even believes that some of 
them make sufficient money during these three months to support 
them without work during the next nine months. Notwithstanding 
the fact that during the summer of 1918 when the demand for 
labor of every kind was so great and every laborer, both white and 
colored, throughout the nation was urged by moral suasion and 
even by legislation to aid in the work of the country in its critical 
hour of participation in the Great War by keeping constantly em- 
ployed, these negroes were indifferent as to whether or not they 
worked all of the time, as they made sufficient money from their 
brief season of work in the plant to keep them from having to work 
continually throughout the remainder of the year unless they wished 
to do so. There are two particularly important points shown in the 
statement made by the manager. One is that the negroes did not 
work as well nor were they as easily managed during the war as 
bhey were before; the other is that even now when the war is over 
the negroes are not yet rendering as good service as they did before 
the war. The manager of the plant is convinced that he did not 
secure as large returns in work from the laborers at $3 a day as he 
received before the war when their pay was only from $1.25 to $1.50 
per day. The same conditions continue to prevail since the war clos- 
ed, and the negroes have so far failed to re-adjust themselves either 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 39 

to the former wage scale or efficiency of service. While it is easier to 
secure labor today than it was a year ago, it is necessary to pay 
practically all the labor $3 per day. It is interesting to note the 
words of the manager in describing labor conditions in the plant 
during the war: 

"They (the negro laborers) were absolutely uncontrollable. I 
had to ask them to do a thing, pay them, and then let them take 
their own time. I believe, too, that in managing negroes I can get 
about as much work out of them as anybody. There was only one 
idea that seemed to be in their minds, 'If I quit, can he get any- 
body else?' Since the war has closed they are working a little bet- 
ter, but not as well as they did before the war. Yet they are the 
best labor we can get. We have never been able to get any laborers 
more satisfactory for the work of the fertilizer plant, which is dusty, 
dirty and disagreeable. They are as easy to handle as any other 
labor, and we can usually get as many of them as we want. They 
have no unions, and they don't go on strikes. These things are all 
in their favor. Though the negroes are not organized now, I think 
it will not be long before they will begin to organize." 

('. In the case of the manager of another fertilizer plant who was 
interviewed, the shortage of labor and the handicap of labor condi- 
tions both during the war and since its close were likewise affirmed. 
The manager of this plant was a comparatively young man, prob- 
ably about thirty-eight years old. He had, however, been manager 
of fertilizer plants for a period of fifteen years, his first experience 
in the work having been gained in Florida. Throughout the inter- 
view he made numerous references to the conditions of labor in the 
Florida plant, as well as to the conditions in the Clarke County 
plant during the war and since its close. As he had been manager 
of the local plant for a comparatively short time, about a year and 
a half, he was not very familiar with labor conditions as they ex- 
isted before the war. He drew inferences, however, from the con- 
dition in which he found labor at the time he assumed his duties 
here and also from what he had learned from inquiries about former 
conditions at the plant. 

From all these sources had come sufficient information to con- 
ivnce him that the scarcity of labor had materially affeoted the 
output of the plant during the war and that it was still exerting 
a similar effect. He could use, he said, as many as 125 negroes at 
the time he gave the interview, which was near the close of March 
when the busy season was at its height. He had, however, at that 
time only 3 5 laborers. At about the same time the year before, 
which was at a very critical period of the war, he had on his pay- 
roll about 49 laborers. This practical comparison led him to be- 
lieve that the scarcity of labor at his plant since the war closed has 
been even greater than it was during the time when the war was 
still in progress. In further substantiation of his belief he pointed 
to the fact that the plant had been known to employ as many as 
300 or 400 in the busy season of the year 1913. The average num- 
ber of men employed then during the year was between 75 and 100. 
He estimated that the average number of men employed for the 
year now did not exceed 25. All of these were colored, only two 
white men besides himself being employed in the entire plant. The 
pre-war wage scale was about $1.25 per day. During the war the 
daily pay ranged from $1.75 to $2.25, while since the war it has 
ranged from $2.75 to $3.25. Notwithstanding the fact that he is 
offering higher wages now than he did during the war, labor is 
harder to get and is more unsatisfactory. He believes that negro 
labor as he knows it is even less trustworthy and effective now 



40 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

than it was during the war. He bases his judgment on practically 
a lifetime acquaintance with negro labor. 

"Negro laborers that work here are lazy," said he. "They are 
not insolent or impudent but careless and of no account. They just 
idle around and fill in a day's time in some way. Though they are 
no good, we can't run one off. We must have labor of some kind. 
I can drive them and manage to get a pretty good day's work out 
of them. The average work expected from a fertilizer laborer is 
four tons a day. I insist on getting about six tons daily. As sorry 
as they are, they are easier to manage than dagoes (Italians), for 
I worked dagoes in Florida. The dagoes are fairly good hands but 
they are slow. They wouldn't do much even if we could get them 
into Georgia, so the negro is about as good as we can get. You 
can drive a negro, but you can't drive a dago. They won't stand 
for it. It seems now that we can't get any more negro laborers. 
I believe that they are already secretly organizing into unions. 
Unless that helps explain the shortage of labor, I don't know what 
does." 

/>. Of all these labor conditions the ones that most closely affected 
the home during the war were those of securing and retaining 
cooks and domestic servants. The experience of a housewife in this 
particular is given in this interview. During the nineteen months 
the war lasted this housewife, who is representative of the best 
home life in the city, had five cooks. It was her opinion that she 
fared as well in this matter of servants as the average housekeeper 
who was compelled to retain a cook. She pronounced all of these 
servants inferior to the ones she had before the war. Two of them 
were of about average merit, while the others ranged all the way 
from that degree of merit to utter worthlessness. 'Considering the 
five in a group, she called them "very poor." Their defects were 
very easily seen. They were untrained, ignorant, and unsatisfactory 
generally. She had endeavored to show them and train them in 
order to keep them interested in the work, but they made a failure 
in each instance despite her efforts. 

Practically without exception they began well. They showed 
interest and enthusiasm in their work at first, but invariably this 
good beginning came quickly to a poor end. She was very much 
discouraged by the fact that these negro servants would not re- 
main with her. She believes this instability of nature is a general 
characteristic of negro women who are house servants. She could 
see no improvement in these servants while they were with her, but 
they actually became less efficient, more careless and indifferent. 
Very soon they would say that they were tired of the work and that 
they were compelled to have a rest. This was true of practically 
every one, the sorry ones and the better ones alike. Whenever they 
remained with her a fairly good length of time, they showed a 
tendency at intervals to neglect their work. These "slumps," as 
the housekeeper called them, the servants would fall into occasion- 
ally, and their work during these periods was too poor and unsatis- 
factory for anyone to bear. The only way this housewife has been 
able to retain a cook lately has been to increase the wages to a little 
above what is ordinarily being paid for that class of service. She 
pays her cook about $5.25 per week. 

/' Conditions with reference to skilled labor in hotels as repre- 
sented by waiters, rooks, bellbovs and all colored help, were sum- 
marized by the manager of a large hotel. The manager is a man 
above middle age and of long experience in the conduct of hotels. 
M • has deal! with this class of negro labor for manv years, and he 
emphatically that the conditions during the war were the worst 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 41 

he had ever seen. Even before the war began he observed a certain 
scantiness of labor, though he was usually able before the war to 
secure at reasonable wages all the colored help he needed. These 
conditions changed almost at once as soon as the war began, as a 
decided shortage in help was noted almost immediately. In order 
to overcome this shortage the manager made a general increase of 
fifty per cent in wages. The effect of this increase upon the supply 
of labor, however, was hardly noticeable. The shortage in labor 
became more and more acute throughout the war. Even at these 
higher wages the hotel help did no better work, but they became 
even more lazy and trifling. They took no interest in their work, 
but they constantly neglected it. They were indifferent as to 
whether they worked or not, but they seemed to think they could 
keep their jobs in either case. This, of course, made them harder 
to manage, for their minds were occupied by the numerous things 
that at any time tend to demoralize negro workers. A certain 
amount of indifference is always met with in negro hotel help, and 
it is naturally expected; but such gross indifference the manager 
had never encountered before. 

With reference to post-war conditions he is convinced that the 
shortage in such negro labor as he employs is constantly growing. 
He is frank to admit that such conditions are contrary to what he 
expected. Though he did not believe that labor conditions among 
his negro help would return to normal immediately upon the close 
of the war, yet he thought that within a comparatively short time 
there would be indications of a return to normal conditions. If 
there are such conditions now, he is unable to discover them. Since 
these unusual conditions have already persisted longer after the 
close of the war than he had expected, he is at a loss to know how 
much longer they will continue. It is to him unthinkable that they 
will continue indefinitely, though he is of the opinion that negro 
labor will never get back to the wage scale that was in force before 
the war. With reference to present tendencies it seems to him that 
it is not only true that the shortage comes more and more to be felt 
but also that the inefficiency of hotel labor is increasing. When 
urged to express an opinion concerning future conditions, he would 
not even hazard a conjecture. In dismissing the topic under dis- 
cussion he finally said that it was something about which he did 
not care to talk , for, as he phrased it, he was "sore about it." 

Complaints from guests in the hotel concerning the inattention 
of servants were common, even more common now than during the 
the war. The only reply he could make to these was to try to show 
the ones who complained what a problem faces the hotel manager. 
"I usually tell them," said he, "that by registering complaints they 
are heaping more burdens upon my shoulders. I can't do anything 
to stop this indifference, for if I get after the servants who are in- 
attentive, I may lose all of my help. So there you are!" 

F. As it has been shown in a former Phelps-Stokes Study that 
negro women prefer washing to cooking and that a majority of 
them do washing in order to earn a livelihood, it is interesting to 
observe the experiences of the head of a family in securing a wash- 
erwoman during the war. For many years before the war the same 
negro woman had done the washing for this family. She continued 
to do the work for some time after the war began, then she asked 
to be relieved of it. When asked as to why she did not wish to con- 
tinue the work, she said she wished to rest for a time. An investi- 
gation showed that she gave up the washing soon after she began 
to receive an allotment from the government, the allotment having 
been made by her son in the army. It appears that when she dis- 



4 2 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

continued the laundry work for this family she gave up laundering 
entirely. 

The head of the family began at once a search for another wash- 
erwoman. For a time it was impossible to secure one, though a 
diligent search was made. Inquiry of neighbors disclosed the fact 
that similar experiences were being undergone by many of them. 
Another washerwoman was finally secured. She did fairly good 
work but soon quit. Search was again made for another. Finally 
another one was secured, but she did such very poor washing that 
for this reason it was impossible to retain her. In this way the head 
of the family endeavored during the war period to keep a washer- 
woman, two of them having been tried during the period of the war 
whereas before the war the work had been done satisfactorily by one 
for many years. After the war closed the first washerwoman re- 
turned and again took up the work, the government allotment hav- 
ing been discontinued. In this particular family, which consisted of 
only two members, the price paid for the laundry before the war 
was $1.10, while war prices ran as high as $2 and more. 

"Xegro washerwomen during the war were the most independent 
I have ever seen," said the head of the family. "When negroes 
draw government money, it is a hard matter to get them to work. 
Never in my life have I seen such conditions in getting the family 
wash done. There have been times when we though that prices for 
washing were a little too high and that good washerwomen were 
scarce, but it was nothing like the conditions we knew during the 
war. My own experience was like that of many others, for I know 
personally of many washerwomen who quit taking in washing at 
any price during the war. They could do it because they were 
receiving a government allotment from some relative in the army, 
or because their husbands were working at high wages for the 
government operated railroads or for some other firm that paid big 
wages." 

</. Explaining in the beginning that though she had tried both 
methods of making a living she preferred washing to cooking, a 
robust, middle-aged negress gave the statements that form the 
basis of this interview. In addition to having served as a cook in 
a private home she had also for a time served as a maid in one of 
the University dormitories, but she preferred the duties of a wash- 
erwoman to those of either of the other phases of work. She ex- 
plained that though when she cooked she secured her own meals 
free, nevertheless she could work for only one family, while as a 
washerwoman she could work for as many different persons as she 
had strength to do the washing. Furthermore, she could do her 
work usually in about five days, giving her Friday and Saturday, in 
part or entirely, for work around her home. By doing washing she 
was also enabled to spend nearly all of her time at home, which she 
preferred because she liked her home. The appearance of her home, 
a neat two-room house, seemed to verify this statement. There was 
a well tended plot of flowers in the small yard, and all the avail- 
able space adjacent to this on the lot had been broken up and pre- 
pared tor gardening. A small inclosure in one corner of the yard, 
in whirh a number of chickens were kept, was a matter of special 
priil. to her. As her husband was dead and her only son, who was 
married, was in the army in France, it was necessary for her to 
earn her own living. iMonth in and month out she had found no 
method more satisfactory than that of washing. 

Differences between her experiences as a washerwoman before the 
war. during the war and since the war, were very readily dis- 
tinguished by her, particularly the contrast between the latter two 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 43 

periods. The pre-war and post-war conditions resemble each other 
very much, as she saw them. The contrast is drawn largely in 
terms of war and post-war conditions, these being more clearly in 
her mind. During the war she did about half as much washing as 
now, but her total earnings then about equal her earnings now. It 
has always been her custom to do washing for men. During the 
war she received invariably one dollar for each person, while now 
she receives only forty or fifty cents for the same work. At that 
time she did washing for soldiers, now she does it for students. 
There is no essential difference between the amount of clothes of the 
soldier and the student, but there is a difference otherwise. The 
work for the soldiers she found pleasant and remunerative, while 
that for the students is not so satisfactory in either of these par- 
ticulars. Each soldier for whom she washed paid her on the aver- 
age a dollar a week for his washing. This was paid promptly and 
regularly. Under these conditions she was able to pay the high 
prices on soap, starch and other necessities, yet make a good profit 
on her labor. It was not necessary for her to solicit work, for all 
the work she cared to do was available for her. She did washing 
regularly each week for ten or twelve soldiers, the proceeds of this 
work being sufficient to pay her expenses and to enable her to live 
comfortably. She now does laundry work for twenty-two students, 
for which she receives on the average about as much as she did dur- 
ing the war, as it is her purpose to do sufficient work to afford her a 
fixed income. The present work she does not like so well as that 
she did during the war for two reasons: in the first place, she is 
compelled to do much more work in order to provide living ex- 
penses, in the second place, her collections at forty and fifty cents 
per week for each individual are not so surely or so easily made as 
they were at one dollar per week. The students are not so depend- 
able or so good pay as the soldiers. Occasionally a student will, 
without any just reason, refuse to pay her at all, in which case, 
even though she may discontinue to do the washing for that partic- 
ular student, she loses that part of her week's wages. It is a rather 
common thing for a student to put his room mate's wash in with his 
own and insist that she do the double wash for the regular price. 
Other students will insist on having laundry done every other week, 
for which work they are willing to pay only sixty cents, although 
the amount of the wash is practically double that of the regular 
wash for one. Not only because of the fact that she received more 
for the same amount of labor but also because collections were 
easier and general relationships more satisfactory she preferred the 
conditions that existed during the war to any she had ever known. 

There are some extraordinary conditions with reference to labor 
during the war that appear to be definitely shown by the agree- 
ment of the opinions expressed by employers and others in the fore- 
going interviews. Among these are (1) Pronounced shortage of 
labor, (2) High wages, (3) Inefficiency of both skilled and un- 
skilled labor, (4) Results of high wages, government allotments and 
other factors in demoralizing labor, (5) Continuance of unsettled 
labor conditions since the close of the war, (6) Indications that 
the wage scale will not again entirely return to its former very low 
level, (7) Tendency of negro labor to organize. 

Throughout these interviews there runs the indication as observed 
by practically every employer interviewed of the tendency of the ne- 



44 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

gro to work just as little as possible, realizing as he did that his ser- 
vices were at the highest possible premium. This is what may be in- 
cluded under the terms, inefficiency or comparative idleness of labor- 
ers. It is not idleness as it is construed by the law, for that is 
synonymous with vagrancy. Most of these inefficient laborers re- 
ferred to in the interviews had places as workers, even though they 
complied rather with the letter than the spirit of the "Work or 
Fight" law. The matter of pure vagrancy will be taken up in the 
second part of this chapter under the consideration of the "Work 
or Fight" law./ 

2. Enforcement of the "Work or Fight" Law 

Very soon after the promulgation by Provost Marshal Crowder of 
the "Work or Fight" order, many of the individual states in the 
Union' passed laws to re-inforce and make more specific the spirit 
of that regulation. A Georgia law of this kind was passed at the 
subsequent session of the General Assembly of the state, the act 
bearing as its date of approval by the General Assembly August 6, 
1918. ! 

In order to understand more clearly the relationship of this law 
to the other laws of the state of a similar nature it must be remem- 
bered that the purpose of this law was to intensify and make more 
definite the laws against vagrancy. A brief reference to the history 
of anti-vagrancy laws in Georgia is necessary to clarify this state- 
ment. The enactment of laws against vagrancy began in Georgia 
as early as the close of the Civil War, the first act having been 
passed in 1S65. "So serious became the problem of vagrancy and 
the insolence of the negroes that Georgia, along with the other 
Southern states, adopted certain restrictive laws, which the times 
seemed to demand." 2 

In the following year, 1866, another law of this kind was passed, 
this law, with the one enacted the preceding year, forming the 
basis of all subsequent anti-vagrancy law in Georgia. Reference to 
the Code of Georgia shows that the subsequent acts, either rein- 
forcing or enlarging the scope of those original laws, were passed 
in 1876, 1895, 1903, 1905. The act of the General Assembly of 
1918 forms, therefore, the most recent link in this chain of anti- 
vagrancy legislation. The gist of this legislation from the initial 
act of 1865 to the act of 1905 is given in the Code of Georgia, edi- 
tion of 1910, in Section 449 under the title "Vagrancy Defined." 
According to this section of the Code, the basic idea of vagrancy 
is the failure to work of certain classes of people who possess no 
"visible or known means of a fair, honest and reputable liveli- 
hood," which is explained in the law as meaning "reasonably con- 
tinuous employment at some lawful occupation for reasonable com- 
pensation, or a fixed and regular income from property or other in- 
vestment, which income is sufficient for the support and mainten- 



Statute Laws of Georgia, 1918. 



2 Brooks, R. I'. History of Georgia, |>. 325. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 45 

ance of such vagrant." Among the classes of vagrants mentioned 
are people living in idleness, those leading an immoral or prolifli- 
gate life, those who live by stealing or by trading or bartering 
stolen goods, professional gamblers, able-bodied beggars, and per- 
sons who hire out their minor children and who live on the wages 
of such children. Sixteen years is the lower age limit, but no upper 
limit is designated. Students are exempted. It is incumbent upon 
all town, city and state officials to investigate and prosecute all per- 
sons who violate the law. Any person who violates the law is 
guilty of a misdemeanor and is to be punished in accordance with 
that section of the Code which fixes the penalty for a misdemeanor. 
In contrast with the requirements of the foregoing law the state 
legislation of 1918, known as the "Work or Fight' 'law, was purely 
a war measure. The act of 1918 was drafted with the purpose of 
placing upon the statutes a stringent but impartial supplementary 
law that would cause all able-bodied persons, within certain lim- 
its, to work. According to this law, the possession of money, prop- 
erty or income sufficient for one's support and the support of those 
dependent upon one was no defence in case of prosecution. Six- 
teen and fifty-five years were the lower and upper age limits, re- 
spectively. The work in which one was engaged must be an "essen- 
tial industry," as this term was defined in the Provost Marshal 
General's order. Five and one-half days per week, with the num- 
ber of hours of work customary for the industry concerned, was 
the amount of work required. Inability to obtain work was no ex- 
cuse, unless the State Commissioner of Commerce and Labor was 
unable to secure work for an applicant, it being the duty of said 
Commissioner to supply work to an applicant under the law. The 
manner of the enforcement of the law, the penalty attached to 
violations of it, and the other requirements and conditions were 
essentially the same as those of the vagrancy laws. The law auto- 
matically became null and void as soon as the war closed. 

An examination of the foregoing summary and contrast of these 
laws of Georgia will show that the "Work or Fight" law differs 
from the others in that possession of property or income is no de- 
fence under its terms. It was aimed not only at the idle poor but 
also at the idle well-to-do. Its fundamental purpose was to exact 
regular work during the war from every one, both rich and poor, 
who was able to work. Its aim was impartial, and a reference to 
the docket of the police court of Athens shows that it was impar- 
tially enforced. There are comparatively few cases on record of 
violations during the war of either the "Work or Fight" law or the 
vagrancy law. The violators of these laws, however, include of- 
fenders not ®nly of the wealthy but also of the poorer class, both 
black and white. More than one well-to-do white resident of Ath- 
ens was forced to enter some essential industry, as the police rec- 
ord shows. 



46 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

While there were several of these violators, both black and white, 
of the requirements of the "Work or Fight' law, whose cases never 
came to trial but who yielded promptly to the compulsion of the 
police official and entered essential industries, yet the heart of the 
matter is not there but in the consideration of the violations of the 
vagrancy law as these violations may be traced for several years. 
A gratifying feature of this record is that there were very few cases 
of vagrancy against the blacks. This statement is not a contradic- 
tion of the truth brought out in the first part of this chapter, where 
it was shown in more than one interview that both skilled and un- 
skilled negro laborers were hard to manage during the war and that 
they did as little work as possible. It is merely a statement, the 
proof of which is to be given more fully, that there were few cases 
of actual vagrancy, by which is meant vicious idleness and refusal 
to work at all. There were undoubtedly cases, in some instances 
probably numerous cases, where negroes violated both the letter and 
the spirit of the "Work or Fight" law, but the reference now is to 

vagrancy. 

TABLE XVII 1 . 

Showing Annual Decrease in Number of Cases of Negro Vagrancy 

Year Number of Cases Percentage of Decrease 

1916 22 

1917 13 40.91 

1918 6 53.85 

No white cases are included in the above table because during 
the entire three years noted there is but one case of vagrancy against 
the whites, according to the police court records, that case being of 
a woman of ill repute. The foregoing table includes only what 
are known as "stockade cases," the figures having been secured 
from the police court docket of the city of Athens. By stockade 
cases are meant cases of vagrancy in which the persons concerned 
were arrested, convicted and sentenced, as is usual in sucTi cases, 
to the city stockade, or workhouse. There were numerous other 
cases that were entered upon the docket, but the records show that 
there were no convictions in these cases. The records are, of course, 
for the city of Athens only. No other part of Clarke County is 
included, but it is nevertheless true that these statistics are still 
valid; because by far the larger number of cases of actual vagrancy 
are found among the negroes in the cities rather than in the rural 
districts. 

It will be seen from the table that the decrease in negro vagrancy 
during the year 1917 amounted to 40.91 per cent, there being but 
two more than half the number of cases for 1917 as there were for 
the preceding year. The ratio of decrease is maintained and is 
even accelerated for the year 1918 during the most critical period 



•^Statistics in this table were secured from the 1'oiu-e Court Docket of tbe 
city nf Athens. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR IT 

of the war. In that year there were only six cases of negro vagrancy 
as compared with twelve for the preceding year. This record is 
indeed an unusual one for a city of 6,316 negro population, and the 
explanation of it is interesting. 

It has been the plan of the Athens police force for a number of 
years to stop crime by prohibiting idleness. It is the belief of the 
officials on the police force, a belief that is in thorough harmony 
with well established facts in the study of the negro problem, that 
idleness is a fruitful source of crime. With this belief in mind, it 
has been the aim of the police department to prevent vagrancy and 
even to compel the negroes to notify the department in advance of 
the time and place of each negro frolic, such as "mullet suppers" 
and similar functions. In this way much has been accomplished not 
only in the reduction of vagrancy but also in the decrease of negro 
crime generally. The statistics given in Table XVII show this con- 
clusively. 

In more thoroughly enforcing the conditions of the "Work or 
Fight" law as it served to make more stringent the provisions of 
the original vagrancy laws the Athens police department made use 
of a simple device in the form of a card system. This was used 
particularly among negroes and those whose employments could not 
be readily traced by means of their offices, the city directory, or 
other such devices. The card certificate, with its simple lettering 
and marginal date arrangement is illustrated below: 



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 IT 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 2T 28 29 30 31 



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 S 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 IT IS 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 2T 28 29 30 31 



Jan. 

Feb. 
March 
April 

May 
June 



1918 



THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT 



1920 



Is employed by me, and that he was engaged in a 

USEFUL OCCUPATION 

on the dates punched in the margin. 

1919 1921 



July 

August 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 
Deo. 



1 


o 


3 4 


5 


6 


T S 9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


IT 


18 


19 


20 21 


22 


23 


24 


25 


26 


27 


28 


29 


30 31 


1 


2 


3 4 


5 


6 


T 8 9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


IT 


18 


19 


20 21 


22 


23 


24 


25 


26 


27 


2S. 


29 


30 31 



It is the opinion of a well known police official of Athens, a man 
who has been connected with the force for a period of fourteen 
years, that the negroes of Athens, and also of the county generally 
as far as he had come in contact with them, had realized their re- 
sponsibility during the war and had proved themselves in the main 
as law-abiding citizens. He knew of no insolence from negro sol- 



48 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

diers, and these soldiers had usually upon their return home from 
army service gone back to work promptly. He knew personally of 
one negro who, having arrived one day with his discharge from the 
army, had gone back to work the following day. He was of the 
opinion that there were other cases of this kind. 

What is most notable about the rapidly decreasing number of 
cases of vagrancy in Athens is that it was brought about as effec- 
tively before the passage of the "Work or Fight" law as it was 
afterwards. With the exception of reaching those who have prop- 
erty or incomes and who for this reason would not work, it appears 
that the "Work or Fight" law was hardly needed in Clarke County 
or in Georgia, if the long-existent vagrancy laws ware enforced. 
Both the Athens police force and the negroes of Athens deserve 
credit for this commendable state of affairs here. In fact, the very 
small percentage of vagrancy here during the critical year of the 
Great War and throughout the course of that memorable struggle 
is a most creditable showing for the negroes of Clarke County, a 
manifestation of patriotism and practical helpfulness that is prob- 
ably not surpassed by that of any county in the state with a negro 
population of like size. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 4 9 

CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT BECAME OF THE NEGRO'S WAR PROFITS? 

Since the preceding part of this study, especially Chapter V, has 
made clear that the negro has reaped unusual profits from war con- 
ditions, it is but natural to make the inquiry, "What became of the 
profits?" It will be the purpose of this concluding chapter to give 
to this question as definite and as comprehensive an answer as 
possible. 

Among other inquiries that suggest themselves as related to the 
main question as it is presented in the foregoing paragraph are the 
following ones: "Did the negro invest any of his surplus money 
wisely?" "If so, how much?" "Did he spend the greater or the 
lesser part of it with poor judgment?" "In what ways did he find 
it most agreeable to spend his war profits?" These and similar 
queries will serve to show the scope of the present chapter of this 
study. 

What the average negro family of Athens and Clarke County does 
with its income in normal times will have much to do in making 
clear what these negroes did under the stimulus of war-time wages 
and the reception of allotments that were in most cases like gifts 
out of the blue sky. It is fortunate that this phase of negro life 
in Athens, at least, received thorough investigation before the be- 
ginning of the Great War. Such an investigation formed the basi.; 
of the Phelps-Stokes Fellowship Studies, No. 1, which was completed 
about the close of the spring season in 1913, more than a year before 
the Great War began. In this former study Mr. T. J. Woofter, Jr., 
made a careful and extended investigation of the expenditures of 
negro families, the results of which form the matter of an entire 
chapter in his study. The vital truths revealed by this investiga- 
tion will first be summarized, and the results of the present investi- 
gation will be added to them. 

In his inquiries into the expenditures of 184 negro families Mr. 
Woofter arrived at, among others, the following conclusions: "The 
average expenditure for miscellaneous items (items not including 
food, clothing, lodging, and fuel) is 53 per cent of the total outlay. 
The percentage of the total income spent for miscellaneous items 

rises with much more rapidity than the income If this 

miscellaneous expenditure were saved, or spent for such laudable 
wants as education, furniture and books, it might be to the negro's 
advantage that his actual expenditure is only half his income. Such, 
however, is not the case. Agents, saloons, and instalment dealers 
cater to negro trade with the view of getting this extra money, 

and, except in cases of exceptional thrift, they succeed 

Instead of better furniture, cheap prints, organs, and bric-a-brac 
are too often purchased; and instead of better clothing a surplus 
of wages over expenditures goes, too often, for gaudy ornaments. 



50 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

"The fact that the negro can live off of the fruits of three days' 
labor, and, if so minded, can rest the other three days, is empha- 
sized by the fact that half of the income of the negro goes for inci- 
dentals, while the items of food, shelter, cleanliness, and self-im- 
provement receive the slightest possible attention The 

fallacy that higher wages would make the negro a better workman 
has been disproved by his tendency to spend for unnecessary articles 
all over and above a certain percentage of his income." 

This fallacy, disproved very conclusively by the former investiga- 
tion, is made even more manifest by the inquiries that have been 
made recently in order to secure the material used in this study. 
As the buying of land represents probably the sanest and most per- 
manently helpful material investment that an agricultural people 
like the negroes could make with their profits, it will be used as the 
type of the wise investment. As the automobile probably more than 
any other one thing symbolizes for the average citizen, particularly 
so for the negro, unnecessary expenditure and a tendency toward 
luxurious living, it will be used as the type of the unwise invest- 
ment. This summarizes the matter in such a way that it may be 
examined in this introductory analysis in the form of a contrast, 
the first part of which is the consideration of the changes from year 
to year in the acreage of land owned by whites and blacks. 

TABLE XVIII. 1 
Showing Ownership of Land by Whites and Blacks, with Increase 

or Decrease 

Increase or 

Decrease 

White 

1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1914-1S 

60949.25 60889.75 61947 61720.25 61447.50 _L498.25 

Increase or Decrease 

-0.10 _|_1.74 -0.36 -0.44 

Black 

8537.62 8306.75 8335 8470.37 9024.50 _[_486.88 

Increase or Decrease 
-2.46 _[_0.34 _|_1.62 _|_6.54 

Though the specific causes for each change shown in the fore- 
going table may be hard to find, nevertheless the general principles 
controlling these changes are fairly manifest. It must be remem- 
bered that the giving in of land values to the receiver of tax re- 
turns is a thing that is inevitably more or less irregular, even 
though land, unlike some other kinds of property, jewelry, for in- 
stance, cannot be hidden. It is, therefore, necessary to find a very 
sharp and decisive tendency, either an increase or a decrease in 



1 Land acreage Rtntisties In this table were obtained from th<» Clarke County 
Tax Dlgewl for L918. 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 51 

acreage, before one can be sure that any very unusual cause has 
been operative. The general tendencies in land fluctuations here 
shown are easily seen. In the case of the whites a gradual but con- 
tinuous increase is evident. With reference to the negroes a gen- 
eral increase is almost equally apparent. 

An examination of these statistics reveals a series of fluctuations 
in each division of the table, that devoted to the white acreage 
and that devoted to the black. Sometimes the change is an increase, 
sometimes it is a decrease. The total increase in acreage for the 
whites during the five-year period studied is 498.25 acres. The 
total increase in acreage for the blacks for the same period is 
486.88. How nearly identical the increase in acreage is for each 
race is clearly shown in these figures. The only instances of what 
may be termed comparatively large increases are, for the whites, 
in the acreage of 1916, which -shows a gain of 1,057.25 acres, and, 
for the blacks, in the acreage of 1918, which indicates a gain of 
554.12 acres. The acreage for the whites in 1918 shows not an 
increase but a decrease of 272.75 acres. 

An increase in negro lands of 554.12 acres for 1918 over 1917, in 
conjunction with a decrease of 135.37 acres for 1917 in comparison 
with 1916, has considerable -significance. It means that the negroes 
spent some part of their war profits for land, but not a very large 
part. It is a regrettable fact that they did not spend more of their 
war earnings for permanent economic improvement of this kind. 
Though most of this acreage is in farm land, yet more than the 
ordinary proportion of the increase is in city lots, as the sales- 
records of the Athens real estate dealers show. The increased 
acreage in negro land, however, is on the economic side one of the 
most hopeful features of negro life in Clarke County during the 
Great War. 

Though the increased acreage in negro lands for 1918 is rather 
notable, a much sharper contrast is found in the consideration of 
the tax valuations on the automobile, which is employed here as 
the type of the unwise expenditure. 

TABLE XIX. 1 

Showing Increase in Tax Valuation of Automobiles, Motorcycles, Etc. 

1913 19il4 1915 1916 1917 1918 

White _ _ $80,885 $99,955 $118,770 $148,795 $194,690 $257,450 
Black _ _ 400 1,300 1,400 3,000 4,990 14,875 

TABLE XX. 
Showing Percentage of Increase Over Previous Year 

1913 1914 191'5 1916 1917 1918 

White _ _ 23.57 18.82 25.28 30.84 32.24 

Black _ _ 225.00 7.69 114.28 66.33 198.09 

Although motorcycles and bicycles are included with automobiles 

in these statistics as they are found on the Tax Digest, nevertheless 



i Tax Digest, Clarke County, 1918. 



52 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

the figures are substantially true for automobiles alone; because the 
value of these other vehicles as compared with that of automobiles 
is practically nothing. These tables form a good index to the un- 
wise investments made by the negroes, for there is a striking con- 
trast between the war purchases of automobiles by whites and 
blacks, if the Tax Digest may be considered an accurate index of 
such conditions. The annual increase in the valuation of auto- 
mobiles of the whites is very steady and gradual. The increase for 
the year 1918, being only 1.40 per cent over the increase for the 
preceding year. On the other hand, the increase in valuation of 
automobiles owned by negroes is, for the year 1918, 121.76 per 
cent over that for 1917. In the main year of the war, when Athens 
automobile dealers and owners reported hardly the usual activity 
in the sale of cars to whites, more cars were sold to negroes than 
had ever been known. This means that the negroes of the county in 
that year found sufficient money available from their war profits to 
invest approximately $10,000 in automobiles when it was difficult 
to get them to invest anything in Liberty Loans and other war 
activities, their total paid subscriptions to all the war activity cam- 
paigns being less than $5,000. 

But this is not all. It was only the fact that the negroes could 
not conveniently get the low-priced automobile they prefer that pre- 
vented them from buying many more cars. The Athens agent for 
the most popular car among the negroes said, in speaking of the 
sale of these cars during the war period, that his firm could not 
begin to supply the demand for these cars after the factory discon- 
tinued making them. The negroes who wanted cars, however, were 
not to be disappointed. They inquired concerning owners of sec- 
ond-hand cars of this make, and the sale of these second-hand cars 
here from their owners to negroes was unprecedented. Every sec- 
ond-hand car of this kind that could be secured was bought by 
negroes. Many of the negroes who could not secure new cars of the 
popular make they like strained every point they could, if necessary, 
and bought higher-priced cars. The sale of these higher-priced cars 
here to negroes during the war was the largest on record. In view 
of these facts, it appears plain that the negro eagerly and lavishly 
spent his war profits for automobiles. 

So goes the record not only with reference to automobiles but 
also as regards silverware, jewelry, furniture, food, clothing, fire- 
arms, and every other kindred phase of expenditure. It is not the 
mere fact that the negroes spent their war profits for these articles 
that is being recorded and emphasized here in connection with this 
study but the far more significant fact that they spent their money 
with very poor judgment. As a careful and experienced student of 
the economics of the Georgia negro has observed: "It is painful to 
have to record the fact that on the whole the negroes seem not to 
have used their high profits wisely. Never before have merchants 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR 53 

sold negroes so many fine clothes, shoes, and firearms; never before 
have they spent so much money in traveling about aimlessly; never 
before have they bought such expensive and luxurious articles of 
food. Many thousands have bought automobiles. High wages on 
the farm and in the towns have encouraged the negro's natural 
tendency to idleness." 1 

If one wishes to investigate these unwise expenditures of the 
Clarke County negro, he has but to make a brief tour of the shops 
of the representative merchants of Athens. The evidence given by 
these merchants on this point is positive and unanimous. In a few 
interviews that are given here as personal evidence of this fact it 
will be seen how the merchants with whom the negroes of the 
county do their trading regard the expenditures of the negroes for 
these various articles not only during war-time but also since the 
war has closed, for invariably these merchants record the fact that 
the negroes are continuing in time of peace the unusually extrav- 
agant buying which characterized them in time of war. 

Dealers in jewelry, firearms, clothing, groceries and furniture 
were selected for these interviews. In several cases it will be ob- 
served that the merchant has pointed out the fact that the negro 
has spent his money, or has shown the desire to do so, for articles 
much more expensive than would have served his purpose, or even 
for things that were useless. 

A. A prominent jeweler, whose white and black customers come 
to him not only from Athens but also from places within a radius 
of fifty miles, said that he could easily see during the war the in- 
crease in negro trade in jewelry and similar wares but that he 
would not like to attempt to state it in figures. It was "readily 
perceptible," even "considerable," he said. In this particular he 
referred definitely to the sale of goods to negro farmers who had 
sold their cotton and to negro women and other negroes, where he 
knew from the vouchers presented that the money came from gov- 
ernment allotments. As there is always a substantial white trade 
in jewelry in autumn, the unusual sales of such goods to negro 
farmers and to negroes who were evidently spending money paid 
them by the government were all the more noticeable. The trade 
conditions were attributed by the merchant to two main causes: 
first, the high price of cotton, which sold, during the most lively 
period of the country trade as high as 35 cents per pound; second, 
to the presence of ready money in the way of allotments and other 
funds from soldiers. The first of these causes was, in his opinion, 
the more powerful of the two, though the latter had a perceptible 
effect upon the pulse of trade. These causes operated in the very 
nature of things to increase the trade of both races, though the 
increased buying noted in the case of the blacks was even more per- 
ceptible than that of the whites. 

B. As was true of the most popular kind of automobile, the de- 
mand for firearms in general was far beyond the supply. This fact 
is vouched for by an official of one of the largest hardware com- 
panies in Athens. This dealer says he could have sold firearms of 
the very best kind in almost unlimited quantities to negroes but 



1 Brooks, R. P. Effects of the Great War on Agriculture in Georgia, Pro- 
ceedings of the Georgia Historical Association, 1919. 



54 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

that the factories were so busy with government contracts that fire- 
arms on other orders could not be secured from them. As it was, 
the negroes bought all the firearms they could get. 

V. An example of extravagance in clothing was cited by a large 
clothing dealer, who said that he had never before sold so large a 
number of silk shirts to negroes as during the war. White men 
with -similar incomes would not have thought of buying silk shirts. 
Many negroes who had formerly bought only cotton shirts bought 
silk ones instead. Negroes had also bought much more largely than 
ever the highest-priced suits of clothes, shoes and other furnishings. 

D. Grocers invariably report unusual sales of the finest groceries 
and of many foods not usually bought by the negroes. According 
to one of the proprietors of a large grocery store, whose stock is of 
the finest and most expensive kind, the increase in grocery expendi- 
tures among his negro customers, after allowing for the increase in 
the price of groceries and of the increased cost of living generally, 
was from 10 to 15 per cent. This is just as true now, five months 
after the close of the war, as it was during the war. His negro 
customers now invariably demand only fancy groceries of the very 
best brands he has. A negro customer who would formerly buy a 
cheap grade of flour, or haggle very much about paying the differ- 
ence between the cheaper grade and the better, now asks for the 
best grade of fancy flour and pays for it without hesitancy. He 
knows the same thing to be true about not only other groceries but 
also with reference to meats and similar foods. 

E. Furniture dealers report not only larger sales but also finer 
grades of their stock sold to negroes than ever. An increase in the 
sales of furniture was naturally expected in view of the high price 
of cotton and other farm products, but the very expensive grades of 
furniture and kindred articles of bouse furnishings bought by the 
negroes during the war surprised even the dealers in these goods. 
So also did the amount of cash the negroes had, many negroes hav- 
ing often paid cash for their entire large bills of goods. One of the 
best and largest furniture merchants in Athens estimates that his 
negro customers as a whole paid four times as much cash on their 
bills during the war as they ordinarily do. Their instalments, 
where they bought on the extended payment plan, have been met 
more regularly than the furniture dealers have ever known. 
Though in the case of the dealers who sell the higher grades of 
furniture the number of sales has not largely increased, yet the 
increase in these sales in dollars and cents is estimated by one 
dealer conservatively at 200 per cent. For instance, a customer, a 
negro woman, entered his store and asked to see some chairs. The 
clerk showed her a set of substantial chairs, with cane bottoms, 
that retailed at fifty cents apiece. The negro asked to see others 
and finally bought a set of dainty mahogany chairs at five dollars 
apiece, paying cash for the entire set. This was cited by the dealer 
as an example of waste of money, because the mahogany chairs 
were too frail to stand the service they would be subjected to in 
the negro's home. Many other instances of this lavish and unwise 
expenditure of money by the negroes were pointed out, such as 
the buying by the negro trading public of five times as many talk- 
ing-machines as ordinarily, these being of an exceptionally expensive 
type. Negroes who ordinarily pay eight or ten dollars for a trunk 
did not hesitate to pay twenty to fifty dollars. Those who usually 
spent ten or fifteen dollars for a bed were not content to buy one 
for less than twenty to thirty dollars. Similar extravagance was 
shown with reference to rugs, pictures, china, bric-a-brac, and 
other articles. 



PD * 04 



CLARKE COUNTY NEGROES DURING GREAT WAR oo 

It appears that the answer to the question, "What became of the 
negro's war profits?" has been given rather completely in this chap- 
ter. It seems very certain from what has been shown that the 
negro spent the lesser part of these profits for essentials and the 
larger part for non-essentials, or what the former Phelps-Stokes 
Study termed "miscellaneous items." During his heyday of pros- 
perity in the Great War the negro seems to have been attracted, as 
is usual with him in time of prosperity, more by the superficialities, 
the tinsel and glitter of life, than by its permanent benefits and 
durable satisfactions. It is unfortunately true that he used the 
greater part of his war profits for unworthy ends. 



56 UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Athens City Schools. Report, 1917-18. 

Brooks, R. P. History of Georgia. New York, Atkinson, Ment- 
zer & Co., 1913. Effects of the Great War on Agriculture in 
Georgia. Proceedings of the Georgia Historical Association, 
1919. 

Bruce, Philip A. The Plantation Negro as a Freeman. New York: 
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1889. 

Code of Georgia Laws, 1910. 

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and Delinquent. Nashville: Benton Printing Co., 1914. 

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Macmillan Co., 1914. 

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ton. 

Stanley, H. M. Sixth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Com- 
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